GroundStation

TJUAV's Custom Ground Station

Set Up Server

The backend/server for the Ground Station is written in Python Flask as an API for the frontend to communicate with. To set up the server, first enter the server directory:

cd server

Finding the right Python to use

To correctly set up the server, you will need to use the right version of Python. Currently, the server is only compatible with Python 3.9+. To use Python 3.10+, you will need to edit some source code in the venv module.

First, download a Python 3.9+ version from python.org. To find the right version of Python to use, run the following command:

python --version

Repeat this command with python3, python3.x, and py until you find the right command to use for your system. Use this version of Python for the rest of the setup.

The Virtual Environment

Create it

To create a venv, run

python -m venv venv

Activate it

This will need to be done each time you run the server.

For Linux and MacOS, run:

source venv/bin/activate

and for Windows, run:

.\venv\Scripts\activate

Note: Once the venv is activated, the python command will refer to the version of Python within the venv. Therefore, you should not use the version of Python you determined earlier, and instead use python for the rest of the setup.

Tip: If you ever need to exit the virtual environment, run

deactivate

Install required packages

install necessary packages into the venv by running

python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Even if you are running Archlinux (or its derivatives), you'll still want to use pip rather than pacman for this as the packages installed with pip while in the venv will save to the venv rather than for the user or globally.

Configuration

Set up configuration

On Linux/MacOS, run:

cp sample.config.json config.json

and for Windows, run:

copy sample.config.json config.json

This file is used for configuration of the backend. For now, the default options in sample.config.json should be enough to set up the server.

Create logs folder

There's a chance that the logs folder is not present when cloning with Git. If the folder exists in the server directory, you can ignore this step. If the folder does not exist, make a new empty folder called logs.

Fix dronekit module

If your version of Python (python --version) is Python 3.10 or higher, you'll need to edit some module source code.

Open the venv directory
Open the lib directory
Open the python3.x directory
Open the site-packages directory
Open the dronekit directory (if this does not exist, make sure you installed the required packages correctly)
Open the __init__.py in a text editor
Search in the file for the class Parameters class definition. Only one result should show up (possibly line 2689)
Change that line from class Parameters(collections.MutableMapping, HasObservers): to class Parameters(collections.abc.MutableMapping, HasObservers):

Running the Server

Open a new terminal and run

python app.py

If you make any edits, you will need to end the program and restart the backend.

Client

The frontend/client for the Ground Station is written in React, along with some other libraries. The backend (and by extension the Interop server) must be running before the frontend can run. Starting the client without the backend running may result in an error, or silent failure.

Installing Client Packages

Note: if npm does not work, you may have to install Node.js. To do so, use this link: https://nodejs.org/en/download/ or download it from your distribution's package manager.

Run npm i in client/. This installs all of the necessary packages (specified in package.json and package-lock.json).

Starting the Client

Run npm run start or npm start in client/. This will open the client in your browser. If not, note that it is run on http://localhost:3000; you can load that in your web browser to connect to the client.

The page will reload if you make edits to the source. You will also see any linter errors in the console.

Version Control

Create and check out a new git branch, branched from the dev branch, before beginning to work on a new change. When an entire feature is complete (don't open a PR for something that isn't done, unreviewed, or untested, unless it is a draft PR), push the branch to your fork, then open a PR to the dev branch; PR's should generally target dev. Describe what changes are made, how they are implemented, other notes, and add TJUAV programmers such as @William or @Krishnan to review it.

Commit messages should be helpful, and not silly. As a rule of thumb, programmers with knowledge of how the entire Ground Station works should know what your commit does just by the message. Do not commit something that is incomplete, unreviewed, or untested. Commits should represent a working self-contained block of your work.

tj-uav/GroundStation