Missions (AUTO Mode)

AUTO mode is used run pre-defined waypoint missions on Copter, Plane and Rover.

DroneKit-Python provides basic methods to download and clear the current mission commands from the vehicle, to add and upload new mission commands, to count the number of waypoints, and to read and set the currently executed mission command. You can build upon these basic primitives to create high-level mission planning functionality.

This section shows how to use the basic methods and provides a few useful helper functions. Most of the code can be observed running in Example: Basic Mission and Example: Mission Import/Export.

Note

We recommend that you use GUIDED mode instead of AUTO mode where possible, because it offers finer and more responsive control over movement, and can emulate most mission planning activities.

AUTO mode can be helpful if a command you need is not supported in GUIDED mode on a particular vehicle type.

Mission Command Overview

The mission commands (e.g. MAV_CMD_NAV_TAKEOFF, MAV_CMD_NAV_WAYPOINT ) supported for each vehicle type are listed here: Copter, Plane, Rover.

There are three types of commands:

  • NAVigation commands (MAV_CMD_NAV_*) are used to control vehicle movement, including takeoff, moving to and around waypoints, changing altitude, and landing.
  • DO commands (MAV_CMD_DO_*) are for auxiliary functions that do not affect the vehicle’s position (for example, setting the camera trigger distance, or setting a servo value).
  • CONDITION commands (MAV_CMD_NAV_*) are used to delay DO commands until some condition is met. For example MAV_CMD_CONDITION_DISTANCE will prevent DO commands executing until the vehicle reaches the specified distance from the waypoint.

During a mission at most one NAV command and one DO or CONDITION command can be running at the same time. CONDITION and DO commands are associated with the last NAV command that was sent: if the UAV reaches the waypoint before these commands are executed, the next NAV command is loaded and they will be skipped.

The MAVLink Mission Command Messages (MAV_CMD) wiki topic provides a more detailed overview of commands.

Note

  • If the autopilot receives a command that it cannot handle, then the command will be (silently) dropped.
  • You cannot yet determine dynamically what commands are supported. We hope to deliver this functionality in the forthcoming capability API.

Download current mission

The mission commands for a vehicle are accessed using the Vehicle.commands attribute. The attribute is of type CommandSequence, a class that provides ‘array style’ indexed access to the waypoints which make up the mission.

Waypoints are not downloaded from vehicle until download() is called. The download is asynchronous; use wait_ready() to block your thread until the download is complete:

# Connect to the Vehicle (in this case a simulated vehicle at 127.0.0.1:14550)
vehicle = connect('127.0.0.1:14550', wait_ready=True)

# Download the vehicle waypoints (commands). Wait until download is complete.
cmds = vehicle.commands
cmds.download()
cmds.wait_ready()

Note

In DroneKit-Python 2 Vehicle.commands contains just the editable waypoints (in version 1.x, the commands included the non-editable home location as the first item).

Clearing current mission

To clear a mission you call clear() and then Vehicle.commands.upload() (to upload the changes to the vehicle):

# Connect to the Vehicle (in this case a simulated vehicle at 127.0.0.1:14550)
vehicle = connect('127.0.0.1:14550', wait_ready=True)

# Get commands object from Vehicle.
cmds = vehicle.commands

# Call clear() on Vehicle.commands and upload the command to the vehicle.
cmds.clear()
cmds.upload()

Note

If a mission that is underway is cleared, the mission will continue to the next waypoint. If you don’t add a new command before the waypoint is reached then the vehicle mode will change to RTL (return to launch) mode.

Creating/adding mission commands

After downloading or clearing a mission new commands can be added and uploaded to the vehicle. Commands are added to the mission using add() and are sent to the vehicle (either individually or in batches) using upload().

Each command is packaged in a Command object (see that class for the order/meaning of the parameters). The supported commands for each vehicle are linked above.

# Connect to the Vehicle (in this case a simulated vehicle at 127.0.0.1:14550)
vehicle = connect('127.0.0.1:14550', wait_ready=True)

# Get the set of commands from the vehicle
cmds = vehicle.commands
cmds.download()
cmds.wait_ready()

# Create and add commands
cmd1=Command( 0, 0, 0, mavutil.mavlink.MAV_FRAME_GLOBAL_RELATIVE_ALT, mavutil.mavlink.MAV_CMD_NAV_TAKEOFF, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 10)
cmd2=Command( 0, 0, 0, mavutil.mavlink.MAV_FRAME_GLOBAL_RELATIVE_ALT, mavutil.mavlink.MAV_CMD_NAV_WAYPOINT, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 10, 10, 10)
cmds.add(cmd1)
cmds.add(cmd2)
cmds.upload() # Send commands

Modifying missions

While you can add new commands after downloading a mission it is not possible to directly modify and upload existing commands in Vehicle.commands (you can modify the commands but changes do not propagate to the vehicle).

Instead you copy all the commands into another container (e.g. a list), modify them as needed, then clear Vehicle.commands and upload the list as a new mission:

# Connect to the Vehicle (in this case a simulated vehicle at 127.0.0.1:14550)
vehicle = connect('127.0.0.1:14550', wait_ready=True)

# Get the set of commands from the vehicle
cmds = vehicle.commands
cmds.download()
cmds.wait_ready()

# Save the vehicle commands to a list
missionlist=[]
for cmd in cmds:
    missionlist.append(cmd)

# Modify the mission as needed. For example, here we change the
# first waypoint into a MAV_CMD_NAV_TAKEOFF command.
missionlist[0].command=mavutil.mavlink.MAV_CMD_NAV_TAKEOFF

# Clear the current mission (command is sent when we call upload())
cmds.clear()

#Write the modified mission and flush to the vehicle
for cmd in missionlist:
    cmds.add(cmd)
cmds.upload()

The changes are not guaranteed to be complete until upload() is called on the parent Vehicle.commands object.

Running and monitoring missions

To start a mission, change the mode to AUTO:

# Connect to the Vehicle (in this case a simulated vehicle at 127.0.0.1:14550)
vehicle = connect('127.0.0.1:14550', wait_ready=True)

# Set the vehicle into auto mode
vehicle.mode = VehicleMode("AUTO")

Note

If the vehicle is in the air, then changing the mode to AUTO is all that is required to start the mission.

Copter 3.3 release and later: If the vehicle is on the ground (only), you will additionally need to send the MAV_CMD_MISSION_START command.

You can stop/pause the current mission by switching out of AUTO mode (e.g. into GUIDED mode). If you switch back to AUTO mode the mission will either restart at the beginning or resume at the current waypoint - the behaviour depends on the value of the MIS_RESTART parameter (available on all vehicle types).

You can monitor the progress of the mission by polling the Vehicle.commands.next attribute to get the current command number. You can also change the current command by setting the attribute to the desired command number.

vehicle.commands.next=2
print "Current Waypoint: %s" % vehicle.commands.next
vehicle.commands.next=4
print "Current Waypoint: %s" % vehicle.commands.next

There is no need to upload() changes to send an update to the next attribute to the vehicle (and as with other attributes, if you fetch a value, it is updated from the vehicle).

Handling the end of a mission

At the end of the mission the vehicle will enter LOITER mode (hover in place for Copter, circle for Plane, stop for Rover). You can add new commands to the mission, but you will need to toggle from/back to AUTO mode to start it running again.

Currently there is no notification in DroneKit when a mission completes. If you need to detect mission end (in order to perform some other operation) then you can either:

  • Add a dummy mission command and poll Vehicle.commands.next for the transition to the final command, or
  • Compare the current position to the target position in the final waypoint.

Useful Mission functions

This example code contains a number of functions that might be useful for managing and monitoring missions:

Load a mission from a file

upload_mission() uploads a mission from a file.

The implementation calls readmission() (below) to import the mission from a file into a list. The method then clears the existing mission and uploads the new version.

Adding mission commands is discussed here in the guide.

def upload_mission(aFileName):
        """
        Upload a mission from a file.
        """
        #Read mission from file
        missionlist = readmission(aFileName)

        print "\nUpload mission from a file: %s" % import_mission_filename
        #Clear existing mission from vehicle
        print ' Clear mission'
        cmds = vehicle.commands
        cmds.clear()
        #Add new mission to vehicle
        for command in missionlist:
            cmds.add(command)
        print ' Upload mission'
        vehicle.commands.upload()

readmission() reads a mission from the specified file and returns a list of Command objects.

Each line is split up. The first line is used to test whether the file has the correct (stated) format. For subsequent lines the values are stored in a Command object (the values are first cast to the correct float and int types for their associated parameters). The commands are added to a list which is returned by the function.

def readmission(aFileName):
    """
    Load a mission from a file into a list.

    This function is used by upload_mission().
    """
    print "Reading mission from file: %s\n" % aFileName
    cmds = vehicle.commands
    missionlist=[]
    with open(aFileName) as f:
        for i, line in enumerate(f):
            if i==0:
                if not line.startswith('QGC WPL 110'):
                    raise Exception('File is not supported WP version')
            else:
                linearray=line.split('\t')
                ln_index=int(linearray[0])
                ln_currentwp=int(linearray[1])
                ln_frame=int(linearray[2])
                ln_command=int(linearray[3])
                ln_param1=float(linearray[4])
                ln_param2=float(linearray[5])
                ln_param3=float(linearray[6])
                ln_param4=float(linearray[7])
                ln_param5=float(linearray[8])
                ln_param6=float(linearray[9])
                ln_param7=float(linearray[10])
                ln_autocontinue=int(linearray[11].strip())
                cmd = Command( 0, 0, 0, ln_frame, ln_command, ln_currentwp, ln_autocontinue, ln_param1, ln_param2, ln_param3, ln_param4, ln_param5, ln_param6, ln_param7)
                missionlist.append(cmd)
    return missionlist

Save a mission to a file

save_mission() saves the current mission to a file (in the Waypoint file format). It uses download_mission() (below) to get them mission, and then writes the list line-by-line to the file.

def save_mission(aFileName):
    """
    Save a mission in the Waypoint file format (http://qgroundcontrol.org/mavlink/waypoint_protocol#waypoint_file_format).
    """
    missionlist = download_mission()
    output='QGC WPL 110\n'
    for cmd in missionlist:
        commandline="%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\n" % (cmd.seq,cmd.current,cmd.frame,cmd.command,cmd.param1,cmd.param2,cmd.param3,cmd.param4,cmd.x,cmd.y,cmd.z,cmd.autocontinue)
        output+=commandline
    with open(aFileName, 'w') as file_:
        file_.write(output)

download_mission() downloads the Vehicle.commands from the vehicle and adds them to a list. Downloading mission is discussed in the guide.

def download_mission():
    """
    Downloads the current mission and returns it in a list.
    It is used in save_mission() to get the file information to save.
    """
    missionlist=[]
    cmds = vehicle.commands
    cmds.download()
    cmds.wait_ready()
    for cmd in cmds:
        missionlist.append(cmd)
    return missionlist

Get distance to waypoint

distance_to_current_waypoint() returns the distance (in metres) to the next waypoint:

def distance_to_current_waypoint():
    """
    Gets distance in metres to the current waypoint.
    It returns None for the first waypoint (Home location).
    """
    nextwaypoint=vehicle.commands.next
    if nextwaypoint ==0:
        return None
    missionitem=vehicle.commands[nextwaypoint-1] #commands are zero indexed
    lat=missionitem.x
    lon=missionitem.y
    alt=missionitem.z
    targetWaypointLocation=LocationGlobalRelative(lat,lon,alt)
    distancetopoint = get_distance_metres(vehicle.location.global_frame, targetWaypointLocation)
    return distancetopoint

The function determines the current target waypoint number with Vehicle.commands.next and uses it to index the commands to get the latitude, longitude and altitude of the target waypoint. The get_distance_metres() function (see Frame conversion functions) is then used to calculate and return the (horizontal) distance from the current vehicle location.

Tip

This implementation is very basic. It assumes that the next command number is for a valid NAV command (it might not be) and that the lat/lon/alt values are non-zero. It is however a useful indicator for test code.