QGroundControl

Open Source Micro Air Vehicle Ground Control Station

• 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/mavlink/qgroundcontrol.

git clone https://github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol.git
cd qgroundcontrol
git submodule init
git submodule update

Each time you pull new source to your repository you should re-run "git submodule update" to get the latest submodules as well.

Supported Builds

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

• OSX: 64 bit, clang compiler
• Ubuntu: 64 bit, gcc compiler
• Windows: 32 bit, Visual Studio 2013 compiler
• Android: Jelly Bean (4.1) and higher
• Qt version: 5.5.1 (or higher)

Install QT

• Download the (Qt installer)[http://http://www.qt.io/download-open-source]
  • Ubuntu: Set the file to executable:chmod +x ~/Downloads/qt-opensource-linux-x64-1.6.0-8-online.run\
  • Windows: Default installer not quite correct, use this instead

Install additional packages:

* Ubuntu: `sudo apt-get install espeak libespeak-dev libudev-dev libsdl1.2-dev`
* Fedora: `sudo yum install espeak espeak-devel SDL-devel SDL-static systemd-devel`
* Arch Linux: `pacman -Sy espeak`
* Windows: [USB driver to connect to Pixhawk/PX4Flow/3DR Radio](http://www.pixhawk.org/firmware/downloads)

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:
  • Windows:
  • Android: Android for armeabi-v7a (GCC 4.9, Qt 5.5.1)

Additional build notes for all supported OS

• Warnings as Errors: Specifying CONFIG+=WarningsAsErrorsOn will turn all warnings into errors which break the build. If you are working on a pull request you plan to submit to github for consideration, you should always run with this settings turned on, since it is required for all pull requests. NOTE: Putting this line into a file called "user_config.pri" in the top-level directory will set this flag on all builds without interfering with the GIT history.
• Parallel builds: You can use the '-j#' option to run parellel builds.
• Location of built files: Individual build file results can be found in the build_debug or build_release directories. The built executable can be found in the debug or release directory.
• If you get this error when running qgroundcontrol: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libstdc++.so.6: version 'GLIBCXX_3.4.20' not found. You need to either update to the latest gcc, or install the latest libstdc++.6 using: sudo apt-get install libstdc++6.

Additional functionality

QGroundcontrol has functionality that is dependent on the operating system and libraries installed by the user. The following sections describe these features, their dependencies, and how to disable/alter them during the build process. These features can be forcibly enabled/disabled by specifying additional values for variables either at the command line when calling qmake or in the user_config.pri. When calling qmake additional variables can be set using the syntax VARIABLE="SPACE_SEPARATED_VALUES", which can be repeated for multiple variables. For example: qmake DEFINES="DISABLE_SPEECH" disables the QUpgrade widget, speech functionality, and sets the MAVLink dialect to sensesoar. These values can be more permanently specified by setting them in the user_config.pri file in the root directly. Create this file as a plain text file and ensure it ends in .pri (not .pri.txt!).

NOTE: Any variables specified at the command line call to qmake will override those set in user_config.pri.

Opal-RT's RT-LAB simulator

Integration with Opal-RT's RT-LAB simulator can be enabled on Windows by installing RT-LAB 7.2.4. This allows vehicles to be simulated in RT-LAB and communicate directly with QGC on the same computer as if the UAS was actually deployed. This support is enabled by default once the requisite RT-LAB software is installed. Disabling this can be done by adding DISABLE_RTLAB to the DEFINES variable.

Speech syntehsis

QGroundcontrol can notify the controller of information via speech synthesis. This requires the espeak library on Linux. On Mac and Windows support is built in to the OS as of OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and Windows Vista. This support is enabled by default on all platforms if the dependencies are met. Disabling this functionality can be done by adding DISABLE_SPEECH to the DEFINES variable.

3D mouse support

Connexion's 3D mice are supported through the 3DxWARE driver available on Linux and Windows. Download and install the driver from 3DConnexion to enable support. This support is enabled by default with driver installation. To disable add DISABLE_3DMOUSE to the DEFINES variable.

XBee support

QGroundControl can talk to XBee wireless devices using their proprietary protocol directly on Windows and Linux platforms. This support is not necessary if you're not using XBee devices or aren't using their proprietary protocol. On Windows, the necessary dependencies are included in this repository and no additional steps are required. For Linux, change to the libs/thirdParty/libxbee folder and run make;sudo make install to install libxbee on your system (uninstalling can be done with a sudo make uninstall). qmake will automatically detect the library on Linux, so no other work is necessary.

To disable XBee support you may add DISABLE_XBEE to the DEFINES argument.