ARK Software Packages

If you purchased an ARK Jetson or ARK Pi6X bundle these software packages will come pre-installed.

On boot, if no known WiFi network is found, a hotspot will be created named "ARK_Hotspot" with the password "password".

Open a web browser and go to http://pi6x.local. Here you can edit the WiFi hotspot or connect to your network.

ARK provides free and open source software packages. These software packages are installed as systemd user services and provide useful features such as mavlink routing, video streaming, automatic log upload, firmware updating and more. ARK-Electronics/ark_companion_scripts

Installing the software

The following steps requires an internet connection.

SSH into the Pi -- assuming your host-name is "pi6x". The default username is "pi" and the password is "raspberry".

ssh [e-mail]

Clone the ARK-Electronics/ark_companion_scripts repository

git clone https://github.com/ARK-Electronics/ark_companion_scripts.git

Run the setup.sh script. This script will ask which services you want to install.

cd ark_companion_scripts
./setup.sh

This will take a long time...

Connecting with QGroundControl

In QGroundControl, when on the same network, you can connect to the flight controller by adding a UDP connection to port 14550 and the IP address of the Pi. You can use the hostname (eg pi6x.local) to make it easy.

Viewing your video stream

The rtsp-server creates an RTSP stream at rtsp://pi6x.local:8554/fpv. By default the server is configured to use a Pi cam. You can configure QGC to connect to this stream in the Video menu.

Checking the status of the services

You can check that the services are running successfully using journalctl

journalctl --user -u mavlink-router -f

Mavlink Router Service

The Mavlink router service sets up an always on connection to the flight controller USB port.

Additional mavlink endpoints can be added by modifying the mavlink router configuration file at /etc/mavlink-router/main.conf

https://github.com/ARK-Electronics/ark_companion_scripts/blob/main/platform/pi/main.conf

[General]
# This file contains the mavlink-router configuration

# Disable TCP port
TcpServerPort = 0

[UartEndpoint FCUSB]
Device = /dev/serial/by-id/usb-ARK_ARK_Pi6X.x_0-if00
Baud = 2000000

[UdpEndpoint GCS]
Mode = Server
Address = 0.0.0.0
Port = 14550

[UdpEndpoint logloader]
Mode = Normal
Address = 127.0.0.1
Port = 14551

[UdpEndpoint polaris]
Mode = Normal
Address = 127.0.0.1
Port = 14552

[UdpEndpoint companion_aux]
Mode = Normal
Address = 127.0.0.1
Port = 14569

[UdpEndpoint camera_manager]
Mode = Normal
Address = 127.0.0.1
Port = 14570

[UdpEndpoint ark_ui]
Mode = Normal
Address = 127.0.0.1
Port = 14571

Logloader

The Logloader service uses MAVSDK to connect to Mavlink Router and monitor for new flight controller logs. When a new log is detected, it downloads from the flight controller SD card to the Pi file system. If log uploading is enabled, it will automatically upload to PX4 Flight Review and send an email with a link to view the log.

Logloader

https://github.com/ARK-Electronics/ark_companion_scripts/blob/main/platform/common/services/logloader.service

[Unit]
Description=Automatic ulog download and upload
Wants=network.target
After=syslog.target network.target mavlink-router.service

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/logloader
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

DDS Agent Service

The DDS Agent service runs micro-xrce-dds-agent on the serial port for ROS nodes to publish and subscribe directly to PX4 UORB topics.

The client needs to be started on the flight controller by setting the parameters UXRCE_DDS_CFG to TELEM2 and matching the baud rate of 3000000 with parameter SER_TEL2_BAUD.

uXRCE-DDS (PX4-ROS 2/DDS Bridge) | PX4 Guide (main)

https://github.com/ARK-Electronics/ark_companion_scripts/blob/main/platform/pi/services/dds-agent.service

[Unit]
Description=Micro-XRCE-DDS-Agent
Wants=network.target
Requires=dev-ttyAMA4.device
After=dev-ttyAMA4.device syslog.target network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/snap/bin/micro-xrce-dds-agent serial -b 3000000 -D /dev/ttyAMA4
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target