Drone control from mobile

[Tntman 14]

I made a lot of apps but I think that this one is most interesting for showing..

 

I started making my own drone from scratch so in the middle of the process i decided to make app that will control my drone. 

 

Here is the actual schema how it works:

 

This project was pretty interesting because i incorporated windows application, mobile application and also an arduino scripts and arduino programming. 

here is picture of game, basically im moving drone and collecting coins and trying to not hit anything and die..  You can also control drone over pc controls, on the right there is logger that keep track off all commands exchanged 

Here is picture of mobile control 

 

[aehimself 396]

Nice! I also played around with Arduino boards (this is how I fixed my smoking Christmas tree lights on Christmas eve) and I love them a lot. I even minified a project to a single ATMega chip for extra efficiency.

But there was one thing I was always wondered but never took the time to dig myself into... can I talk to this board with Delphi...?

 

I don't want you to share mission critical parts, but can you give some hints on how you did it? Are you using standard Serial to USB and text commands? Or a custom interface?

[Tntman 14]

1 hour ago, aehimself said:

I even minified a project to a single ATMega chip for extra efficiency

 

Minified versions are cool but i dont have space and i didnt want to use my poor soldering skills for this lol i was more oriented to writing software..

 

1 hour ago, aehimself said:

can I talk to this board with Delphi...?

You mean to upload delphi code on arduino or just send commands from delphi app that is on PC or mobile ?

 

Btw i can share anything you want, i also have other delphi arduino projects with code samples

Edited April 5, 2020 by Tntman

[aehimself 396]

Just now, Tntman said:

You mean to upload delphi code on arduino or just send commands from delphi app that is on PC or mobile ?

Sending commands only. I don't have any specific projects in mind; I just see the opportunities of a connection between a Delphi app and an Arduino.

For the time being I'd just be interested in a hello-world type setup. Make an Arduino light an LED when you check a checbox on a Delphi form. I'll make my way from there, when I have anything specific in mind 🙂

[Tntman 14]

I will send you link to my website over pm since im not sure if it is allowed to post or advertise here .. Just to say my site is not finished 100% but u will find some stuff that is documented about arduino ( scripts that are commented ) , also u will find some useful stuff for writing delphi PC apps that send commands to arduinos ( library that is not mine ) when u download library there are some demo applications so u will figure out everything , its pretty easy but still if u have any questions send me PM anytime .. 

 

For android i were using winsoft trial library because i wanted to do things fast, I will rewrite it probably 

[Alexander Elagin 143]

8 hours ago, aehimself said:

Sending commands only. I don't have any specific projects in mind; I just see the opportunities of a connection between a Delphi app and an Arduino.

For the time being I'd just be interested in a hello-world type setup. Make an Arduino light an LED when you check a checbox on a Delphi form. I'll make my way from there, when I have anything specific in mind 🙂

There is nothing difficult. You can use a serial port (if the host PC doesn't have one, a simple USB-to-COM adapter will do) as a simple communication channel - serial data exchange has been used for decades in multiple industrial applications built with Delphi. In fact, this is the area (custom hardware control / monitoring) where Delphi is used in many companies, but of course most of these applications never appear in public.

[Tntman 14]

3 hours ago, Alexander Elagin said:

There is nothing difficult. You can use a serial port (if the host PC doesn't have one, a simple USB-to-COM adapter will do) as a simple communication channel - serial data exchange has been used for decades in multiple industrial applications built with Delphi. In fact, this is the area (custom hardware control / monitoring) where Delphi is used in many companies, but of course most of these applications never appear in public.

Agree, i sent him some code samples, its just few lines of code really .. Also a lot of people that repair and diagnostic cars in my country use delphi software

[pcplayer99 11]

I have made a drone controller APP years ago. It was made by Firemonkey, through WiFi to communication with a WiFi camera, play real time video stream from camera on the drone, and send control command to camera and the camera forward this command to drone controller through UART.

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

2 hours ago, pcplayer99 said:

I have made a drone controller APP years ago

Offtop: I'm always wondering why people tend to write "APP" (in uppercase) when it's just a short form of "application". Nobody says "I wrote an APPLICATION".

[aehimself 396]

On 9/22/2020 at 1:28 PM, Fr0sT.Brutal said:

Offtop: I'm always wondering why people tend to write "APP" (in uppercase) when it's just a short form of "application". Nobody says "I wrote an APPLICATION".

Because it's the mainstream. I bet my shoes on that you can track it back to Apple.

[Fr0sT.Brutal 900]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:21 PM, aehimself said:

Because it's the mainstream. I bet my shoes on that you can track it back to Apple.

Fix: APPle :D

[Anders Melander 1783]

On 4/4/2020 at 4:58 PM, Tntman said:

i decided to make app that will control my drone

ArduPilot and QGroundControl not working for you?

[Tntman 14]

On 9/28/2020 at 2:12 PM, Anders Melander said:

ArduPilot and QGroundControl not working for you?

I mean it can probably work for me but i wanted to make something and learn .. I could also buy drone but its not interesting 😄

[aehimself 396]

Just now, Tntman said:

but i wanted to make something and learn

This is something we (almost) all can relate to. Which makes me wonder... how many of us wrote our own password managers, instead of using an existing one? How many "fun projects" we have ready which are never used/published because we used it only to gain experience?

 

...or is it just me?

[Tntman 14]

1 hour ago, aehimself said:

This is something we (almost) all can relate to. Which makes me wonder... how many of us wrote our own password managers, instead of using an existing one? How many "fun projects" we have ready which are never used/published because we used it only to gain experience?

 

...or is it just me?

Lol its not only you .. i can say that i am pretty crazy when we talk about that.. i am even making android cameras for my phone ( i mean its well known fact that every android have default camera app ) but its just so interesting 😄

[sjordi 39]

How do you get video streaming?
Are you using a special FMX tool?

[Tntman 14]

13 hours ago, sjordi said:

How do you get video streaming?
Are you using a special FMX tool?

U can use cheap simple arduino for 2$ that can connect on wifi network and communicate over websockets, try searching for "esp32 websocket" .. that could be one of the solutions 

[Rollo62 536]

10 hours ago, Tntman said:

... for 2$ ... "esp32 websocket"

I'm afraid you had the ESP8862 in mind, as far as I know the ESP32 boards lay around 5$.
But  you never know what quality to expect from different suppliers ...

[sjordi 39]

Mhhh,

I was actually talking about the video component that can display it in your app.

You get the video signal, but which FMX component you use to show the video?
Thanks

Steve

[Tntman 14]

8 hours ago, Rollo62 said:

I'm afraid you had the ESP8862 in mind, as far as I know the ESP32 boards lay around 5$.
But  you never know what quality to expect from different suppliers ...

 

Order amount:

$ 2.49

 

this is how much i payed for ESP8862 ( shipping included ). I got it 2 years ago and it is still working fine.. When we talk about arduinos and stuff like that i am always getting cheapest possible components and i never had problems.. One of the reasons why i am getting cheapest possible components all the time is that i am using them just for testing purposes, playing around and learning...

 

8 hours ago, sjordi said:

Mhhh,

I was actually talking about the video component that can display it in your app.

You get the video signal, but which FMX component you use to show the video?
Thanks

Steve

 

I think that u can make it like client-server app, send converted image ( text ) over socket and display it in ur app.. U can display it in normal image component 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sjordi 39]

Ah ok, thanks.

[aehimself 396]

On 10/13/2020 at 4:27 PM, Tntman said:

I think that u can make it like client-server app, send converted image ( text ) over socket and display it in ur app.. U can display it in normal image component 

I guess it depends on the resolution and color depth, but isn't transferring still images and showing them as a video... laggy? I never worked with videos in my entire life, but - as far as I understood - this is why they identify key frames; so they transfer / store only the delta inbetween those.