QGroundControl Ground Control Station

Open Source Micro Air Vehicle Ground Control Station

The license terms are set in the COPYING.md file.

• Project: http://qgroundcontrol.org

• Files: http://github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol

• Credits: http://qgroundcontrol.org/credits

Obtaining source code

Source code for QGroundControl is kept on GitHub: https://github.com/shadow1runner/qgroundcontrol.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/shadow1runner/qgroundcontrol.git

Each time you pull new source to your repository you should run git submodule update to get the latest submodules as well. Since QGroundControl uses submodules, using the zip file for source download will not work. You must use git.

User Manual

https://donlakeflyer.gitbooks.io/qgroundcontrol-user-guide/content/

Supported Builds

Native Builds

QGroundControl builds are supported for OSX, Linux, Windows, iOS and Android. QGroundControl uses Qt as its cross-platform support library and uses QtCreator as its default build environment.

• OSX: OSX 10.7 or higher, 64 bit, clang compiler (IMPORTANT: XCode 8 requires a workaround described below)
• Ubuntu: 64 bit, gcc compiler
• Windows: Vista or higher, 32 bit, Visual Studio 2013 compiler
• iOS: 8.0 and higher
• Android: Jelly Bean (4.1) and higher
• Qt version: 5.5.1 ONLY

Install QT

You need to install Qt as described below instead of using pre-built packages from say, a Linux distribution because QGroundControl needs access to private Qt headers.

• Download the Qt installer
  • Make sure to install Qt version 5.5.1 NOT 5.4.x, 5.6.x, 5.7.x, etc.
  • Ubuntu: Set the downloaded file to executable using:chmod +x. Install to default location for use with ./qgroundcontrol-start.sh. If you install Qt to a non-default location you will need to modify qgroundcontrol-start.sh in order to run downloaded builds.
  • Windows: Default installer not quite correct, use this instead

Install additional packages:

• Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install espeak libespeak-dev libudev-dev libsdl2-dev
• Fedora: sudo dnf install espeak espeak-devel SDL2-devel SDL2 systemd-devel
• Arch Linux: pacman -Sy espeak
• Windows: USB Driver to connect to Pixhawk/PX4Flow/3DR Radio
• Android: Qt Android Setup

Install 3rd party dependencies for Obstacle Avoidance

• OpenCV and OpenCV contrib
  • git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv.git
  • cd opencv
  • git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib.git
  • git checkout 177aef0 <- last build I tested it with (OpenCV 3.1.0-dev);
  • Install package dependencies to build from source listed here
  • run CMake:
    • make sure to use WITH_LIBV4L option
    • make sure to specify the OPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH and let it point to OpenCV contrib
  • run make -j8; sudo make install
  • Problems I ran into:
    • VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL: Inappropriate ioctl for device
• Compile boost from source by following this guide (last version tested: 1.62)

Building using Qt Creator

• Launch Qt Creator and open the qgroundcontrol.pro project.
• Select the appropriate kit for your needs:
  • OSX: Desktop Qt 5.5.1 clang 64 bit
  • Ubuntu: Desktop Qt 5.5.1 GCC bit
  • Windows: Desktop Qt 5.5.1 MSVC2013 32bit
  • Android: Android for armeabi-v7a (GCC 4.9, Qt 5.5.1)
• Note: iOS builds must be built using xCode: http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/ios-support.html. Use Qt Creator to generate the XCode project (Run Qmake from the context menu).

Configuring QGroundControl

• To get up to speed with QGroundControl.ini, I've provided configuration files for obstacle detection here:
  • git clone https://shadow1runner@bitbucket.org/shadow1runner/uavobstacledetectionconfig.git

Video Streaming

Check the Video Streaming directory for further instructions.