QGroundControl

Open Source Micro Air Vehicle Ground Control Station

• Project: http://qgroundcontrol.org

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

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

Documentation

For generating documentation, refer to /doc/README.

Notes

Please make sure to delete your build folder before re-building. Independent of which build system you use (this is not related to Qt or your OS) the dependency checking and cleaning is based on the current project revision. So if you change the project and don't remove the build folder before your next build, incremental building can leave you with stale object files.

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.

QUpgrade

QUpgrade is a submodule (a Git feature like a sub-repository) that contains extra functionality. It is compiled in by default if it has initialized and updated. It can be disabled by specifying the DISABLE_QUPGRADE definition when calling qmake qmake DEFINES=DISABLE_QUPGRADE. Note that multiple defines can be specified like this: qmake DEFINES="DISABLE_QUPGRADE DISABLE_SPEECH".

To include QUpgrade functionality run the following (only needs to be done once after cloning the qggroundcontrol git repository):

• git submodule init
• git submodule update

The QUpgrade module relies on libudev on Linux platforms.

Specifying MAVLink dialects

The MAVLink dialect compiled by default by QGC is for the ardupilotmega. This will happen if no other dialects are specified. To override this create a user_config.pri file in the root directory and set the MAVLINK_CONF variable using qmake's variable notation syntax: MAVLINK_CONF=sensesoar. This variable can be a list of dialects that should all be supported like MAVLINK_CONF=sensesoar ardupilotmega. Note that doing this may result in compilation errors as certain dialects may conflict with each other!

The MAVLINK_CONF variable can also be specified at the command line as an argument to qmake to allow for easy one-off compilations: qmake MAVLINK_CONF="sensesoar ardupilotmega"

MAVLink dialect generator

An add-on is available for QGC that provides a UI for generating MAVLink dialects from within QGC. This feature has been deprecated since identical functionality now exists within the MAVLink project itself.

This is not built by default as it is deprecated functionality that will removed in a forthcoming version of QGC. You can enable it by specifying the ENABLE_MAVGEN constant as an argument to qmake like qmake DEFINES=ENABLE_MAVGEN.

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. Thallows 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 defining DISABLE_RTLAB when running qmake.

Speech syntehsis

QGroundcontrol can notify the controller of information via speech synthesis. This requires the flite 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 the DISABLE_SPEECH define when running qmake like: qmake DEFINES=DISABLE_SPEECH. Note that multiple defines can be specified like this: qmake DEFINES="DISABLE_QUPGRADE DISABLE_SPEECH".

3D view

The OpenSceneGraph libraries provide 3D rendering to the map overlays that QGC can provide.

OpenSceneGraph support is built-in to Mac OS X. On Linux it is commonly available through the libopenscenegraph and libopenscenegraph-qt developer packages. Windows support does not currently exist. This functionality with be automatically built if the proper libraries are installed.

Kinect support

Microsoft's Kinect can be used by some autopilots for additional functionality. This is provided by the libfreenect libraries available on the Mac and Linux platforms.

This support is enabled by default and built-in when the appropriate libraries exist. To disable this behavior set the DISABLE_KINECT define when running qmake.

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 define DISABLE_3DMOUSE when running qmake.

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 specify DISABLE_XBEE in the DEFINES argument to qmake like qmake DEFINES=DISABLE_XBEE. Multiple options may be specified for DEFINES like: `qmake DEFINES="DISABLE_XBEE DISABLE_SPEECH".

Build on Mac OSX

To build on Mac OSX (10.6 or later):

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Install SDL

1. Download SDL from: http://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL-1.2.14.dmg
2. From the SDL disk image, copy the sdl.framework bundle to /Library/Frameworks directory (if you are not an admin copy to ~/Library/Frameworks)

Install QT

---

1. Download Qt 4.8+ from <http://download.qt-project.org/official_releases/qt/4.8/4.8.5/qt-mac-opensource-4.8.5.dmg >
2. Double click the package installer and follow instructions: http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/install-mac.html

Build QGroundControl

---

(use clang compiler - not gcc)

1. From the terminal go to the groundcontrol directory
2. Run qmake qgroundcontrol.pro -r -spec unsupported/macx-clang CONFIG+=x86_64
3. Run make -j4

Build on Linux

To build on Linux:

---

1. Install base dependencies (QT + phonon/webkit, SDL)

• For Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libqt4-dev libphonon-dev libphonon4 phonon-backend-gstreamer qtcreator libsdl1.2-dev build-essential
• For Fedora: sudo yum install qt qt-creator qt-webkit-devel SDL-devel SDL-static systemd-devel

2. [OPTIONAL] Install additional libraries

• For text-to-speech (flite)
  • For Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libflite1 flite1-dev
  • For Fedora: sudo yum install flite-devel
• For 3D flight view (openscenegraph)
  • For Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libopenscenegraph-dev
  • For Fedora: sudo yum install OpenSceneGraph-qt-devel

3. Clone the repository

4. cd PROJECTS_DIRECTORY

5. git clone https://github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol.git

6. [OPTIONAL] For QUpgrade integration: 1. cd qgroundcontrol 2. git submodule init 3. git submodule update

7. [OPTIONAL] Build and install XBee support:

8. cd libs/thirdParty/libxbee

9. make

10. sudo make install

11. Build QGroundControl:

12. Go back to root qgroundcontrol directory

13. qmake

14. make * To enable parallel compilation add the -j argument with the number of cores you have. So on a quad-core processor: make -j4

15. Run qgroundcontrol

16. ./release/qgroundcontrol

Build on Windows

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GNU GCC / MINGW IS UNTESTED, COULD WORK WITH VISUAL STUDIO 2008 / 2010 EXPRESS EDITION (FREE!)

Steps for Visual Studio 2008 / 2010:

Windows XP/7:

1. Download and install the Qt libraries for Windows from https://qt.nokia.com/downloads/ (the Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 version as appropriate)

2. Download and install Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 Express Edition (free) from https://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio. If using Visual Studio 2010, make sure you are running at least SP1. There is a linking error you'll encounter otherwise that will prevent compilation.

3. Go to the QGroundControl folder and then to thirdParty/libxbee and build it following the instructions in win32.README

4. Open the Qt Command Prompt program (should be in the Start Menu), navigate to the source folder of QGroundControl and create the Visual Studio project by typing qmake -tp vc qgroundcontrol.pro

5. Now start Visual Studio and load the qgroundcontrol.vcproj if using Visual Studio 2008 or qgroundcontrol.vcxproj if using Visual Studio 2010

6. Compile and edit in Visual Studio. If you need to add new files, add them to qgroundcontrol.pro and re-run qmake -tp vc qgroundcontrol.pro

Repository Layout

The following describes the directory structure and important files in the QGroundControl repository

Folders:

• data - Miscellaneous support files.
• deploy - Contains scripts for packaging QGC for all supported systems.
• doc - Output directory for generated Doxygen documentation. See README contained within for details.
• files - Contains miscellaneous data including vehicle models and autopilot-specific data files.
• images - UI images.
• libs - Library dependencies for QGC.
• qupgrade - Source file for the qupgrade, a firmware flashing utility for the APM. Compiled into QGC by default.
• qml - QML source files for the project.
• src - Source code for QGroundControl. Split into subfolders for communications, user interface, autopilot-specific files, etc.
• tools - Additional tools for developers.

Important files:

• qgroundcontrol.pro - Primary project file for building QGC. Open this in qtcreator or pass this to qmake on the command line to build QGC.
• qgcvideo.pro - Builds a standalone executable for viewing UDP video streams from a vehicle.