Modules Reference: Communication

frsky_telemetry

Source: drivers/telemetry/frsky_telemetry

FrSky Telemetry support. Auto-detects D or S.PORT protocol.

Usage

frsky_telemetry <command> [arguments...]
 Commands:
   start
     [-d <val>]  Select Serial Device
                 values: <file:dev>, default: /dev/ttyS6
     [-t <val>]  Scanning timeout [s] (default: no timeout)
                 default: 0
     [-m <val>]  Select protocol (default: auto-detect)
                 values: sport|sport_single|sport_single_invert|dtype, default:
                 auto
   stop
   status

mavlink

Source: modules/mavlink

Description

This module implements the MAVLink protocol, which can be used on a Serial link or UDP network connection. It communicates with the system via uORB: some messages are directly handled in the module (eg. mission protocol), others are published via uORB (eg. vehicle_command).

Streams are used to send periodic messages with a specific rate, such as the vehicle attitude. When starting the mavlink instance, a mode can be specified, which defines the set of enabled streams with their rates. For a running instance, streams can be configured via mavlink stream command.

There can be multiple independent instances of the module, each connected to one serial device or network port.

Implementation

The implementation uses 2 threads, a sending and a receiving thread. The sender runs at a fixed rate and dynamically reduces the rates of the streams if the combined bandwidth is higher than the configured rate (-r) or the physical link becomes saturated. This can be checked with mavlink status, see if rate mult is less than 1.

Careful: some of the data is accessed and modified from both threads, so when changing code or extend the functionality, this needs to be take into account, in order to avoid race conditions and corrupt data.

Examples

Start mavlink on ttyS1 serial with baudrate 921600 and maximum sending rate of 80kB/s:

mavlink start -d /dev/ttyS1 -b 921600 -m onboard -r 80000

Start mavlink on UDP port 14556 and enable the HIGHRES_IMU message with 50Hz:

mavlink start -u 14556 -r 1000000
mavlink stream -u 14556 -s HIGHRES_IMU -r 50

Usage

mavlink <command> [arguments...]
 Commands:
   start         Start a new instance
     [-d <val>]  Select Serial Device
                 values: <file:dev>, default: /dev/ttyS1
     [-b <val>]  Baudrate (can also be p:<param_name>)
                 default: 57600
     [-r <val>]  Maximum sending data rate in B/s (if 0, use baudrate / 20)
                 default: 0
     [-u <val>]  Select UDP Network Port (local)
                 default: 14556
     [-o <val>]  Select UDP Network Port (remote)
                 default: 14550
     [-t <val>]  Partner IP (broadcasting can be enabled via MAV_BROADCAST
                 param)
                 default: 127.0.0.1
     [-m <val>]  Mode: sets default streams and rates
                 values:
                 custom|camera|onboard|osd|magic|config|iridium|minimal|extvsisi
                 on, default: normal
     [-n <val>]  wifi/ethernet interface name
                 values: <interface_name>
     [-c <val>]  Multicast address (multicasting can be enabled via
                 MAV_BROADCAST param)
                 values: Multicast address in the range
                 [239.0.0.0,239.255.255.255]
     [-f]        Enable message forwarding to other Mavlink instances
     [-w]        Wait to send, until first message received
     [-x]        Enable FTP
     [-z]        Force hardware flow control always on
     [-Z]        Force hardware flow control always off
   stop-all      Stop all instances
   status        Print status for all instances
     [streams]   Print all enabled streams
   stream        Configure the sending rate of a stream for a running instance
     [-u <val>]  Select Mavlink instance via local Network Port
     [-d <val>]  Select Mavlink instance via Serial Device
                 values: <file:dev>
     -s <val>    Mavlink stream to configure
     -r <val>    Rate in Hz (0 = turn off, -1 = set to default)
   boot_complete Enable sending of messages. (Must be) called as last step in
                 startup script.

micrortps_client

Source: modules/micrortps_bridge/micrortps_client

Usage

micrortps_client <command> [arguments...]
 Commands:
   start
     [-t <val>]  Transport protocol
                 values: UART|UDP, default: UART
     [-d <val>]  Select Serial Device
                 values: <file:dev>, default: /dev/ttyACM0
     [-b <val>]  Baudrate (can also be p:<param_name>)
                 default: 460800
     [-p <val>]  Poll timeout for UART in ms
     [-l <val>]  Limit number of iterations until the program exits
                 (-1=infinite)
                 default: 10000
     [-w <val>]  Time in ms for which each iteration sleeps
                 default: 1
     [-r <val>]  Select UDP Network Port for receiving (local)
                 default: 2019
     [-s <val>]  Select UDP Network Port for sending (remote)
                 default: 2020
     [-i <val>]  Select IP address (remote)
                 values: <x.x.x.x>, default: 127.0.0.1
     [-f]        Activate UART link SW flow control
     [-h]        Activate UART link HW flow control
     [-v]        Add more verbosity
   stop
   status

uorb

Source: modules/uORB

Description

uORB is the internal pub-sub messaging system, used for communication between modules.

It is typically started as one of the very first modules and most other modules depend on it.

Implementation

No thread or work queue is needed, the module start only makes sure to initialize the shared global state. Communication is done via shared memory. The implementation is asynchronous and lock-free, ie. a publisher does not wait for a subscriber and vice versa. This is achieved by having a separate buffer between a publisher and a subscriber.

The code is optimized to minimize the memory footprint and the latency to exchange messages.

The interface is based on file descriptors: internally it uses read, write and ioctl. Except for the publications, which use orb_advert_t handles, so that they can be used from interrupts as well (on NuttX).

Messages are defined in the /msg directory. They are converted into C/C++ code at build-time.

If compiled with ORB_USE_PUBLISHER_RULES, a file with uORB publication rules can be used to configure which modules are allowed to publish which topics. This is used for system-wide replay.

Examples

Monitor topic publication rates. Besides top, this is an important command for general system inspection:

uorb top

Usage

uorb <command> [arguments...]
 Commands:
   start
   status        Print topic statistics
   top           Monitor topic publication rates
     [-a]        print all instead of only currently publishing topics with
                 subscribers
     [-1]        run only once, then exit
     [<filter1> [<filter2>]] topic(s) to match (implies -a)