47 Comments

1. Howdy! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!

   • Love to hear that! Keep me posted! I hope I find so time during the next weeks to debug and release v0.3 lots of improvements there.

2. Hello,
   It seems that the link to the android app on https://github.com/seeul8er/DroneBridge is not working or more.
   I am trying to test your system that seems great but without the android application I can not go or end tests.

   Thanks in advance

   Great job

   • Oh sorry! You are right. I put in an expiration date so people do not use old versions of the app. I will try to upload the most current one by tomorrow. Thanks for pointing that out!
     BTW. I will have some time next week so you can expect DroneBridge v0.3 in short. You can find the most current code under the nightly branch in the repository.

3. Hello,
   I’m looking forward to discover this new release!
   I tell you again, it’s a great job.

   Thanks
   Laurent

4. Hi,

   is it possible to use the Software in combination with the navio 2 addon board?

   Thanks and regards

   • Not sure but I don’t think so. As far as I know the Raspberry Pi runs a custom real-time kernel when used with Navio2. I would guess you will have a hard time getting the DroneBridge modules + WifiBroadcast video link running on it. DroneBridge/Wifibroadcast also uses a patched kernel to improve range.

     But you could use the Android app to track your UAV by forwarding the MAVLink telemetry stream to UDP port 1604. In the future you will also be able to create & upload missions

5. Very cool project! I hope to give it a try in my custom 450 quad sometime, but that probably won’t be for another year or so.

6. Great project – Congrats.
   Actually I’m comparing your project and three others – original WBC, EZ-WBC and SVPCOM fork of WBC. I try to find easiest one to implement.
   I hope you will evaluate your in future 🙂
   BR

   • Stay tuned for v0.6. I am fixing some stuff on DB for ESP32 and then finish the release. It will make DroneBridge the king of the hill when it comes to extendability etc. Performance-wise I do not think there are any differences between the systems. Under the hood they all share the same drivers etc.

7. Desktop image, please.

8. Where is the android app located?? And any new rpi images coming ?? I would realy love to see some people running this real world anyone still interested?

   • It’s on Github now. Released it yesterday

9. Hello! Very nice project, thanks!
   But I am getting ” Beta is expired” in android app (v 2.0.0), couple weeks ago was OK.
   And no new version at github

   • Ups, I’ll get to it today or tomorrow.

   • Great work – Congratulations!
     Because your project supports inexpensive hardware – ESP32 support, your project is extremely interesting . Thank you for saving money for drone lovers.
     But I have a suggestion. can you support new hardware – Nvidia JETSON NANO, (please!!!!)? !!! It is an very powerful for money computer for computer vision-ability to expand the drone’s autonomous flight capabilities. Sorry for my english!
     Many thank!

   • Thanks a lot. First of all, never excuse your english. It’s all good 😉
     The Jetson Nano is amazing yes. I was thinking about supporting it but I never had an actual (personal) use case. So spending the time and money on it would not make sense for me.
     However, I think it is not too hard to get it running. You would need to replace the parts of the software that rely on Raspberry Pi firmware functions (capturing video, displaying video, OSD) and you are good to go. On the air side this would only mean that you need to replace the call to raspivid by an equivalent gstreamer (or something else) call. You need to end up with a raw H264 stream. That one will just be passed on to the video module like we do it now.

10. Hi Wolfgang, kudos to you on this super cool project.

    Is there an updated version of the DroneBridge for Android 2.0.0?
    The one I downloaded from Github ( https://forstudents-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/ga25puh_forstudents_onmicrosoft_com/EXD5MF2nbNFCi-Il9mXa3BYBsaoM-qJ_wcLUDPZtBczBgg?e=vbPGt7 ) says “Beta is expired!”

    Thanks Wolfgang.
    Vincent.

    • Ups, I’ll get to it today or tomorrow.

11. Does it work with a Betaflight FC?

    • Video is independent from the FC firmware. LTM telemetry is supported by the OSD. So yes. But support is deprecated, so no new features and only minimal fixes

    • Thank you for your answer. So I can get the Sensor Data from the FC to the Pi. But can I also control the copter over the Pi?

    • Sensor data = Telemetry
      Control = MSP with Betaflight

      Control via MSP is supported. Via a second serial connection to the FC you can get LTM telemetry which is sent down to the ground and rendered by the OSD. But you can do something else with the data as well. Just integrated into your code. Telemetry via MSP (1 serial connection for Control&Telemetry) is not supported by default. You would need to write/modify your own applications, in which you can use the DroneBridge library to transmit the data.

12. Hello.
    Beautiful project!
    I am assembling dronebridge with raspberry pi zero (AIR) + rasberry pi4b (GND)
    It is possible to implement on the AIR raspberry pi zero, the reading of
    1) i2c imuMPU9250 + BMP280 i2c
    2) rs232 gps NEO-6M
    See them on DroneBridge android app user interface.
    Thanks Wolfgang.

    • You can of course write your own apps that run on the Pis and use the DroneBridge library for transmission between GND & AIR. Unfortunately it is not possible to display custom data within the Android app. It is on my table but no idea when it is integrated.

13. Thank you for the advice. I am a Windows user (but I can install linux on my PC) and I am not a programmer, so I do not really understand how to install DroneBridge on Jetson Nano. In return, I’m quite hard-working and have time.
    Can you give us specific instructions on how to do this for orther Linux system?

14. Hello,

    it is possible to use two cameras and to switch between them

    Best regards

    J.

    • Yes, but you will need additional hardware for adding a second camera. You will also need to implement the code for switching yourself since I do not have any hardware for testing.

15. Hello. i flashed the image on the sd cards. now im booting the gnd and air pi. everything seems okay but they dont connect to eachother and i dont get a video signal. can somebody help me?

    greetings from Germany

16. I had some problems with getting the two sides talking also but now transmitting video.
    Here are some things to check:
    Are you using higher output USB power supplies? If the current capability is below 2 amps, that is not enough.
    Are you using the recommended Radios. These two pairs of radios work:
    1 pair of Alfa Networks: AWUS036NH chipset: Ralink RT3070
    1 pair of Alfa Networks: AWUS036NHA chipset: Atheros AR9271
    Do you have a Raspberry Pi camera installed on the Air side? The camera tells the Pi that it is the Air side unit.
    Do you have a monitor connected to the HDMI output of the ground unit? This displays the OSD and video

17. Hey Wolfgang! I’ve been working on drones in my lab for 5-6 years now. We’ve never really focused on the communication link aspect, so we’ve always bought RFD900s and similar stuff. But we’ve reached their limit, we need a lower latency link. However, not for a UAV’s link to the ground station, but to another Pixhawk running Ardupilot on a moving vehicle.

    Range is not an issue in our case, but limiting the added weight to our drone is important, hence why we’re leaning towards using ESP32. I’ve never used an ESP32, and I’m finding so many contradicting information online. I was wondering if I could poke your brain and get your opinion on what would be the best way to achieve this?

    Basically, I’m looking to create a bidirectional Mavlink link between 2 Pixhawks using 2 ESP32.
    Is DroneBridge the right solution for me? I know DroneBridge is meant to be installed on the drone-side, and then a GCS can connect to the ESP’s generated wifi. My case is going to be different. I’ve also heard of ESP-NOW, which seems promising, but the packet size of 250 bytes is limiting. The drone actually sends RTCM data (received by another link with an RTK base station) to the vehicle, and the vehicle sends its position, velocity and heading back to the drone. I’ve heard that RTCM packets can be up to 1023 bytes long (am I wrong?).

    I’m pretty much lost and haven’t found many resources covering these issues. I’d be very glad if I could have your opinion on this, and discuss some more if you have the time. Thanks!

    • Hi John,
      I do not think that DroneBridge is the right solution for you, since the ESP32 implementation is not optimized for such a scenario. It is optimized for Range & Bitrate. However, you could still try it out, by using one ESP32+DroneBridgeForESP32 on Drone1 and another ESP32 in Drone2 running in station mode with a custom application that connects to Drone1. That way both drones will be able to communicate with each other via Wifi. Maybe that already does the trick for you. I cannot say anything about the latency here.
      An alternative would be the mentioned ESP-NOW as a protocol, but I do not know anything about latency there (internet says ~2ms-4ms). It looks like you will have to split the RTCM packets (ESP32 firmware might be able to do that for you). That will lead to more delay and packet loss will have a bigger impact. You will also have to implement it yourself. You might be able to modify the DroneBridge for ESP32 code.
      Another solution might be a LoRA based link. Those are also available in small form factors and offer good performance. LoRA is optimized for range.

      As you can see there is no perfect solution. You will have to do some testing and implement stuff yourself.
      I would first try and see if a simple Wifi bridge with two ESP32 works. Use DroneBridge for ESP32 on one drone and connect with the other drone to the access point. That would be the lowest effort and will lead to a stable link, as long as the two drones are close to each other (~100m)
      If that does not work switch to ESP-NOW. This will require low implementation effort, since you can use the code from the Wifi implementation. You will just have to change a few things.
      If all that does not do the trick you might be looking into other radio links like LoRA etc. ExpressLRS uses LoRA for example, but does not really offer a back channel.

18. Hi,

    DroneBridge for ESP32 is really useful. Figuring out the TX/RX pin numbers for different ESP32 board with messy or nonexistent documentation can be cumbersome, though. How about starting a collection of working configs on the GitHub page? Here’s what worked for me to connect a Pixhawk 32 v6:

    Hardware: D1 Mini ESP32 WiFi + Bluetooth:
    UART TX PIN: 3
    UART RX PIN: 1
    UART BAUD: 1000000 (haven’t tried to go higher yet, seems to work fine thus far incl. paramter transmission and telemetry with minimal latency)

    • Hi! Almost any pin on the ESP32 can be configured as TX/RX. I am not sure about performance when non-native UART pins are used, but since the telemetry link is no where near maxing out the ESP32 UARTs performance it should be no problem at all. I would recommend to pick two pins that seem to be fit for the job and then set those in the config.

19. Hi

    I have a v3.0 – esp-idf v4.4
    And i was wondering this version does not support client mode , only as wifi access point.
    Is there a way i could upload new software bin file via a browser url.
    For instance: 192.168.2.1/api/settings/update ?

    I have this esp32 with a uart board wich i bought from aliexpress
    It contains the dronebridge software but i dont know how to put it in boot modus to upload new software so i thought maybe is there a upload function so i can update through browser.

    • There is no v3.0 of DroneBridge for ESP32. As of the release history the client mode is supported starting v1.2 of DroneBrdige for ESP32. I have not designed that board, please reach out to the manufacturer for details. From the looks of it you will need an Serial to USB bridge (FTDI adapter) that allows you to connect the board to your computer. It seems they only made one of the ESP32s UARTs available. I have never tried flashing on that particular UART.

20. Hello cyber! I’m trying to build a jetson nano kernel using
    RPiKernelBuilder. Now I’m changing build.sh. Please tell me what parameters are important for DroneBridge in the db_bcm2709_defconfig file so that they can be transferred to tegra_defconfig? I’m still not sure they’ll even come close to building a kernel for the jetson nano. Is it possible to skip this step?

    • There is not much to keep in mind. Make sure the Wifi drivers you want to use are available. The script is rather old. I am sure you could also use the OpenHD kernel. All these projects are based on the same idea and are somewhat the same on the lower level.
      You can also use the default jetson nano kernel to start things of. The kernel here is just a bit reduced and has some patches applied that improve the Wifi performance. Same as with OpenHD e.g.

21. Thanks for the reply! I chose DroneBridge for its simplicity and documentation. I was able to build a kernel with modified drivers.
    Now I’m trying to run AIR on a jetson nano connected to a mini pix fly controller, with these settings.
    No video for now as it won’t work on the jetson nano.

    # enable “Y” or disable “N” DroneBridge modules
    en_tel=Y
    en_video=N
    en_comm=Y
    en_control=Y
    en_plugin=N

    penchev@ubuntu:~$ sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/init_wifi.py
    [sudo] password for penchev:
    —- Initializing adapters for UAV (v0.7.0
    )
    Settings up network interfaces
    Waiting for network adapters to become ready
    Waiting for wifi adapters to be detected

    Settings up 7404f1c86432
    Setting 7404f1c86432 iwlwifi 2437 MHz bitrate: 18 Mbps
    down…
    monitor…
    up…
    frequency…
    MTU…
    renaming 7404f1c86432 to 7404f1c86432
    penchev@ubuntu:~$ sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/start_db_modules.py
    —- Starting modules
    Using: -n 7404f1c86432 for all modules
    Determining frame type…
    DroneBridge UAV: Communication ID: 200
    DroneBridge UAV: Trying to start individual modules…
    DroneBridge UAV: Starting communication module…
    DroneBridge UAV: Starting control module…
    —- Done with startup
    DB_CONTROL_AIR: Opened telemetry serial port /dev/ttyACM0
    DB_CONTROL_AIR: Ready for data! Enabled diversity on 1 adapters
    *** buffer overflow detected ***: /home/pi/DroneBridge/control/control_air terminated
    penchev@ubuntu:~$ DB_COMM_AIR: Communication ID: 200 (c8)

22. And I launch GND on a laptop with Ubuntu 18.04. On it I have two WIFIs, one pci rtl8821ce and a connected USB ALFA AWUS036ACH.

    penchev@pc:~$ sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/init_wifi.py -g
    [sudo] пароль для penchev:
    —- Initializing adapters for ground station (v0.6.0
    )
    Settings up network interfaces
    Waiting for network adapters to become ready
    Waiting for wifi adapters to be detected

    Settings up 00c0cab48e76
    Setting 00c0cab48e76 rtl88xxau 2437 MHz bitrate: 2 Mbps
    down…
    monitor…
    up…
    frequency…
    MTU…
    renaming 00c0cab48e76 to 00c0cab48e76
    Settings up wlo1
    Setting wlo1 rtl8821ce 2437 MHz bitrate: 2 Mbps
    up…
    down…
    monitor…
    Error setting up card. Operation not supported
    Error: Could not find AP-adapter: intwifi0, unable to enable access point
    ###################################################################################################
    penchev@pc:~$ sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/start_db_modules.py -g
    —- Starting modules
    DroneBridge GND: Communication ID: 200
    DroneBridge GND: Trying to start individual modules…
    Using: -n 00c0cab48e76 for all modules
    Determining frame type…
    DroneBridge GND: Starting status module…
    DroneBridge GND: Starting proxy module…
    DroneBridge GND: Starting USBBridge module…
    —- Done with startup
    AOA_USB: No device in accessory mode found
    penchev@pc:~$ TCP socket bind failed…: Address already in use
    DB_STATUS_GND: Started!
    AOA_USB: Checking 7 USB devices
    TCP socket bind failed…: Address already in use
    DB_PROXY_GROUND: Opened telemetry log: /DroneBridge/log/DB_TELEMETRY_2024-06-13_1210
    DB_PROXY_GROUND: started! Enabled diversity on 1 adapters.
    AOA_USB: Checking 7 USB devices
    AOA_USB: Checking 7 USB devices
    AOA_USB: Checking 7 USB devices

23. 1) How do I know that a connection has been established between them?
    2) Use ping or create a socket and send a telnet message?
    3) *** buffer overflow detected ***: /home/pi/DroneBridge/control/control_air terminated what could be the reason?
    Thank you for your attention.

    • In case of a non-RPi platform, I recommend not using the default startup script. Try running the modules individually. And kind of build your own script.

      Initially, you must setup the wifi cards: https://dronebridge.gitbook.io/docs/dronebridge-desktop/enabling-monitor-mode

      There is documentation on how to start the video module here: https://dronebridge.gitbook.io/docs/dronebridge-for-raspberry-pi/standard-modules#video-module

      There is no feedback on whether they established a connection. Only sending and receiving data on the other end will tell.
      I am not sure what the problem with the buffer overflow is. Might be a software bug. Might be an issue connected to an incorrect setup of the system. It may go away when setting up the system manually step by step.

24. Thank you! I will try. What modules would you recommend running that are not related to RPI?
    Can I test the connection through custom plugins?

25. It looks like the connection is not being established. I run on AIR init_wifi.py then exemple_receiver.py. On GND init_wifi.py then example_sender.py . Both wifi modules are in monitor mode…

26. It came to life! if I execute the commands ‘nmcli radio wifi off’ then ‘nmcli radio wifi on’ then init_wiwi.py on both devices. Then UAV exemple_receiver.py, GND example_sender.py I see a message in the terminal on UAV. The opposite is true: UAV example_sender.py GND exemple_receiver.py does not work. I’ll look into it further 😉

27. So I’ll leave the result for history.
    DroneBridge works on both Jetson Nano and Desktop.
    But it looks like the ALFA AWUS036ACH wifi adapter doesn’t quite work.
    Jetson Nano & wifi intel AC8265NGW
    sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/init_wifi.py
    sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/start_db_modules.py

    desktop & ALFA AWUS036ACH
    sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/init_wifi.py -g
    sudo python3 /home/pi/DroneBridge/startup/start_db_modules.py -g
    Connecting to TCP port 1603 and sending
    { “destination”: 5,
    “type”: “1pingrequest”,
    “id”: 4321
    }
    Jetson nano receives the request, forms a response and sends it to the desktop, but the response does not arrive.
    If I disconnect the intel wifi adapter and connect the second ALFA AWUS036ACH to the Jetson Nano, it no longer receives requests.
    Apparently something is wrong with the rtl8812au drivers, it works for transmission, but not for reception.

    iwconfig Jetson Nano & wifi intel AC8265NGW
    7404f1c86432 IEEE 802.11 Mode:Monitor Frequency:2.437 GHz Tx-Power=0 dBm
    Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
    Power Management:on

    iwconfig Jetson Nano/desktop & ALFA AWUS036ACH
    00c0cab48e76 IEEE 802.11 Mode:Monitor Frequency:2.437 GHz Tx-Power=18 dBm
    Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
    Power Management:off
    for the author: After reading the documentation and the DroneBridge source code, I realized how amazing this thing is. Thank you.

    • I have not used DroneBridge for quite some time. Great to hear you got it working! You are right, the rtl8812au drivers suck!