htcohio / dronebridge

A wifibroadcast extension to make iNAV & and MAVLink based flight controllers more usable for aerial photography. Intended to be a real alternative to DJI Lightbridge and other similar systems.

DroneBridge

DroneBridge is a system based on the WifiBroadcast approach. A bidirectional digital radio link between two endpoints is established using standard WiFi hardware and a custom protocol. DroneBridge is optimized for use in UAV applications and is a complete system. It is intended be a real alternative to other similar systems, such as DJI Lightbridge or OcuSync.

DroneBridge features support for Raspberry Pi, ESP32 on the UAV/ground station side and an android app.

Visit "Not just another drone project" for additional information about the project and its goals

DroneBridge Beta 0.5 released!

DroneBridge Beta v0.5 Image for Raspberry Pi

DroneBridge android app 1.2.3 (hotfixes - untested)

DroneBridge android app 1.2.2

Get started

To set it up please read the wiki and check out: WifiBroadcast installation guide

Discalmer: Use at your own risk. Malfunction and sudden signal loss can not be ruled out. Use with caution! Do not fly over people or animals. The pilot is responsible for any harm or damage caused by using the provided software or parts of it.

One System. One digital radio link to rule them all.

• 300 m - 14+ km range* (500 m - 2 km with standard hardware)
• 1080p video
• 110ms glass to glass latency (using android app)
• cheap: starting at 80€ for hardware
• 12 channel RC
• LTM & MAVLink telemetry - Use with mwptools, QGroundControl, Mission Planner etc.
• iNAV & MAVLink based flight controller support
• bidirectional
• full featured Android app
• OSD
• multi camera support
• extendability

*Range strongly depends on your setup and environment. The user must ensure that the system is operated within the legal framework of the respective country.

DroneBridge for Android

• Easy to use UI & end point of the whole DroneBridge system
• Low latency video decoding
• Change settings, calibrate the RC, view telemetry from within the app

Learn more about the app

Exemplary hardware setup

long range setup

DroneBridge for ESP32

DroneBridge Modules

DroneBridge is highly modularized to provide flexebility and make development easy. There is a common library for Python3 and C that handles everything involving the DroneBridge raw protocol. It configures the sockets, inits the protocol and provides methods for easy transmission.

Read more in the Wiki

Blackbox concept

coming up:

• more documentation
• add MavLink and MSP waypoint missions
• make DroneBridge more indipendent of WifiBroadcast
• DroneBridge Cockpit: A client/OS for x86 systems to monitor and control your UAV
• See milestones

You are a developer?

Check out the wiki

Check out the milestones and suggest new ones!

Join the Gitter room and discuss issues, ask questions or give feedback

There is a nightly branch with the most up to date code! It is not guaranteed that the code in that branch is working or even compiling!

Feel free to ask questions and criticize each and everything!