Drones are now matured as a technology and are better understood by developers and users alike. We at FlytBase, have made efforts to provide you with some open source drone applications. These drone apps provide a base platform for your app development and can be customized as and when needed. We invite interested developers to contribute to this repository and help us grow this resource. So without further ado, here is a list of the 10 open source apps for drones you can use.
1. Joystick App (Download Mobile App, Source code)
This simple Mobile/Web App allows the user to control the drone using a joystick interface. You can take off/land your drone with the press of a button and fly it in any direction.
This app uses FlytBase Drone Navigation APIs to send velocity setpoints to your drone and eventually control Roll, Pitch and Yaw movements of the vehicle. You can find the source code and download the Joystick web app here.
2. Video Streaming App (Download app, Source code)
Live video streaming is a must have feature in almost any drone application. This Drone App allows the user to view live video feed from the drone camera. The video is streamed is done over Wi-Fi from a camera attached to the Companion Computer mounted on your drone. You can find the source code and download the app here
3. GPS Follow Me App (Download app, Source code)
GPS Follow Me mobile app enables your drone to follow you around.
This is a sample mobile app using GPS-based positioning. When the follow-me mode is turned on, the GPS coordinates of the device (running the app) are used to send position commands to drone and it starts following the person carrying the device.
Visit here for detailed information and source code.
Check out this video to see how GPS Follow Me App works:
4. AprilTag Detection App (Source code)
AprilTags are 2D barcodes developed for robotics applications and are now being used in various drone applications. This project integrates AprilTags detection with FlytOS. FlytOS takes input image from the camera and publishes processed image with detected AR tags. It can be used with any AprilTags family. You can find detailed information and source code here.
The video below shows a demo on detecting AprilTags with FlytOS:
5. Obstacle Detection using Sonar (Source code)
This Obstacle detection app uses Sonar connected to Arduino to detect obstacles from 6 directions and publish the distance data into ROS. The app also gives you the option to visualize live data received from the distance sensor.
You can write your own custom onboard application that consumes the sonar data and produces an obstacle avoidance behavior. Download the app and check out the source code here.
6. Visual Servoing (Source code)
This app uses gimbal APIs to control a 3-axis gimbal in order to keep the camera(mounted on gimbal) focused on an object of interest in the vicinity. FlytOS vision APIs are used to detect and track the object. Read the full blog on Drone API for Gimbal Control [How to do Visual Servoing]
Check this GitHub link for instructions and source code to setup this app for your drone.
Also, check out the video explaining how to do visual servoing using your companion computer:
Comments
FlytOS 1.34 running on CubieBoard1
As an experimental efforts of mine, In this video, you can see object tracking by FlytOS 1.34 running on cheap single board Linux computer based on AllWinner A10. Though it was bit difficult and time consuming but finally, I got it worked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-MZMtkdpqI
There is some serious bug in in 1.34 which I came to observe later. When the FlyOS in Pi3 automatically upgrades from 1.31 to 1.34, then on subsequent power cycles, flytconsole windows does not open even if I can see that on home wifi network there is ip (192.168.1.2) allocated to the Pi3 running FlytOS 1.34, I can ping it but the flytconsone does not open.
I have repeated it many times and observed same issue. Then I went back to 1.31 with which the flytconsole opens every time then I black listed 1.34 and turned off automatic update in the configuration setting.
Pls look into it and resolve ASAP.
Thanks for your feedback. We're working on more video streaming features. You'll see those in upcoming updates.
Current Video streaming is just to visualize the stream for basic computer vision applications, not for FPV.
Regarding the CSI Cam, please post your query on forums.flytbase.com we will help you resolve it.
Two more critical feedback;
1. No HD video stream at ground station, only 640x480
2. Lag in the video is very very high, not suitable for FPV
Hi, I have just tested FlytOS 1.34, its great, the only issue being faced till now since ver 1.0 is no live video feed with CSI cam however its fine with Logitech C920 USB CAM.