User Documentation is at https://www.docs.rpanion.com/software/rpanion-server
This is a node.js based server for companion computers used in Mavlink-based vehicles (ie Ardupilot, PX4).
It presents a web-based interface (running on the companion computer), where system settings such as network, telemetry and video streaming can be configured from.
On the Raspberry Pi, Rpanion-server is compatible with the Raspberry Pi OS and Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.
Rpanion-server allows the user to configure:
- Flight Controller telemetry routing to udp outputs
- Video Streaming via an RTSP server
- Network configuration
For the Raspberry Pi 2, 3 or 4, run the ./deploy/RasPi2-3-4-deploy.sh
on a fresh Raspberry Pi OS install
to configure and install Rpanion-server. Note this does not configure an initial Wifi hotspot.
This can be done directly by typing the following into a Raspberry Pi OS console:
curl -sL https://github.com/stephendade/Rpanion-server/raw/master/deploy/RasPi2-3-4-deploy.sh | bash -
If running Ubuntu 20.04.1 OS, use:
curl -sL https://github.com/stephendade/Rpanion-server/raw/master/deploy/RasPi-ubuntu20-deploy.sh | bash -
For the Raspberry Pi Zero W, run the ./deploy/RasPiZero-deploy.sh
on a fresh Raspberry Pi OS install
to configure and install Rpanion-server. Note this does configure an initial Wifi hotspot.
This can be done directly by typing the following into a Raspberry Pi OS console:
curl -sL https://github.com/stephendade/Rpanion-server/raw/master/deploy/RasPiZero-deploy.sh | bash -
If not already configured, for an initial Wifi hotspot, run the ./deploy/wifi_access_point.sh
script.
The hotspot has the SSID "rpanion" and password "rpanion123". The Pi's IP address will be 10.0.2.100,
so the Rpanion-sever website will be available at http://10.0.2.100:3000.
Rpanion-server requires a recent version of node.js. It can be installed via package manager:
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
Note that the Raspberry Pi Zero is not compatible with version 12 (or later) of node.js. Version 11 can instead be installed via:
wget https://nodejs.org/download/release/v11.15.0/node-v11.15.0-linux-armv6l.tar.xz
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/nodejs
sudo tar -xJvf node-v11.15.0-linux-armv6l.tar.xz -C /usr/local/lib/nodejs
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/nodejs/node-v11.15.0-linux-armv6l/bin/node /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/nodejs/node-v11.15.0-linux-armv6l/bin/npm /usr/local/bin
The required prerequisite packages can be installed via:
sudo apt install libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0* libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstrtspserver-1.0-dev gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly gstreamer1.0-plugins-base-apps network-manager python3 python3-dev python3-gst-1.0 python3-pip dnsmasq
sudo apt purge openresolv dhcpcd5
pip3 install netifaces future pymavlink --user
For some systems (such as the Raspberry Pi), additional permissions may be requires to run nmcli
from the
default user. In /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
add auth-polkit=false
in the main
section.
If the Raspberry Pi Camera is intended to be used, the specific Gstreamer element (credit to https://github.com/thaytan/gst-rpicamsrc) must be installed:
git submodule init && git submodule update
cd ./modules/gst-rpicamsrc
./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/
make
sudo make install
The mavlink-router (https://github.com/intel/mavlink-router) software is used for backend routing and is required to be installed:
git submodule init && git submodule update
cd ./modules/mavlink-router
./autogen.sh
./configure CFLAGS='-g -O2'
make
sudo make install
The node.js packages need to be installed using npm install
in the Rpanion-server folder.
Running in production mode builds the reactJS app first. This gives performance increases over running in development mode.
npm run build
PORT=3000
npm run server
Running in development mode allows for any code changes to trigger a restart of Rpanion-server. This is
Rpanion-server consists of a node.js server running on port 3001 and a React frontend application running on port 3000 in development mode.
In production mode, the React application is rendered statically
from the node.js server on port 3001. This can be overidden via setting the PORT
environment
variable (see rpanion.service
for for example).
You can start the server on its own with the command:
npm run server
Run the React application on its own with the command:
npm start
Run both applications together with the command:
npm run dev
At this point, the website will be active at http://<ip of device>:3000
When updating Rpanion-server from Github, run npm install
to grab any
changed dependencies.
If running in production mode, run npm run build
too for the ReactJS app
to be rebuilt.
If running Rpanion-server as a service, ensure to restart the service.
Unit tests are split into seperate commands for the frontend (ReactJS) and backend.
Unit tests can be run with the command:
npm run testback
npm run testfront
Code coverage statistics are automatically calculated for the backend tests.
Linting (via eslint) is available via:
npm run lint
Use npm version minor
to create a new release. This will also update CHANGELOG.md
.
To produce a disk image from a SD card, insert the card and run ./deploy/create_image.sh
.
To have Rpanion-server running on automatically on boot, there is an included systemd service file.
This can be enabled via:
sudo cp rpanion.service /etc/systemd/system
sudo systemctl enable rpanion.service