3rd Party Software for Autel?

[Maxheadspace]

As I tap my fingers waiting on the Evo to pop out, I was wondering. Are there 3rd party apps developed for Autel drones? My other brand drones have full-control suites developed by 3rd parties that pretty much replace the manufacturer's bundled control app. They provide many functions, like mapping grids, smart photo shots, and waypoint missions. Or does Autel not yet have a sufficient following to warrant 3rd party efforts to develop supporting software?

Thanks!

Max

 

[Jagerbomb52]

No sadly Autel never released the SDK for 3rd party Apps. They have said they will release SDK's for the EVO but when is another thing. The way this company moves it might not be for a very long time if ever.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

The SDK was one of many items they promoted 2 years ago but never brought it to the users. Without it there is no way to make third-party apps unless someone took it upon themselves to develop something which is highly unlikely.

 

[Wildseyed]

Not unlikely. Just very difficult. I'm still trying to crack this nut. I just don't have a huge amount of time at the moment. The X-Star firmware is from the same code base as the PixHawk 2. I have already taken a peek inside the NuttX OS (via serial USB), and all the processes running verify this. Now it's a matter of rooting the system. I've been trying to inflate (extract) the file system of the firmware file, but I hit a small roadblock in that I need to recompile OpenSSL with zlib support enabled. Again, time is the factor here. There is an alternative, and that is to remove the 16 screws holding the case together, eject the MicroSD card on the main board, and mount it on a linux system. The only thing holding me back from doing this is that I bought this bird crashed, and had it apart several times during the repairs, and now I just have a feeling I will be tempting fate if I take it apart again.

You might ask "Where is this leading?" Well, ultimately the idea is to find out how the bird and controller are sending MAVLINK (Yes, it uses MAVLINK) data back and forth, and tie into that. With MAVLINK access, any app that supports MAVLINK comms should be able to get some information to and fro.

I bought a SDR (USB DVB-T Digital TV Adapter) dongle to see if I could sniff out the video feed, but there is a learning curve with that device, and the software that makes it work.

The ultimate goal is to have the X-Star running PX4, or Ardupilot. For that, I need to crack that firmware file, and inject custom firmware.

 

[Cider Boy]

Sounds impressive to me !

My skill stops at a pc build.

Let us know how you get on please.

Regards, Cider Boy.

 

[arto.inetco]

hats off to Wildseyes!!! sounds like your close....Come on Autel, help us out here with what we bought from you....

 

[Flying Pumpkin69]

Thanks for the effort wildseyed, we hope your successful.
We love our pumpkins and hope to continue flying for a long time

 

[Maxheadspace]

You might ask "Where is this leading?" Well, ultimately the idea is to find out how the bird and controller are sending MAVLINK (Yes, it uses MAVLINK) data back and forth, and tie into that. With MAVLINK access, any app that supports MAVLINK comms should be able to get some information to and fro.

That actually sounds promising, Wildseyed. I've been building drones based on APM, Pixhawk 1 & 2.1, and Pixfalcon, all running MAVLINK, so I can get my head around that. But if it's founded on something so open-source as MAVLINK, it makes you wonder why they wouldn't release the SDK. Why not let 3rd party developers write successful apps for your drone at no cost? Even with the collapse of 3DR, third parties are still writing code for the Solo drone.

 

[DroneOfArc]

Did this ever happen?

 

[96andahalf]

Not unlikely. Just very difficult. I'm still trying to crack this nut. I just don't have a huge amount of time at the moment. The X-Star firmware is from the same code base as the PixHawk 2. I have already taken a peek inside the NuttX OS (via serial USB), and all the processes running verify this. Now it's a matter of rooting the system. I've been trying to inflate (extract) the file system of the firmware file, but I hit a small roadblock in that I need to recompile OpenSSL with zlib support enabled. Again, time is the factor here. There is an alternative, and that is to remove the 16 screws holding the case together, eject the MicroSD card on the main board, and mount it on a linux system. The only thing holding me back from doing this is that I bought this bird crashed, and had it apart several times during the repairs, and now I just have a feeling I will be tempting fate if I take it apart again.

You might ask "Where is this leading?" Well, ultimately the idea is to find out how the bird and controller are sending MAVLINK (Yes, it uses MAVLINK) data back and forth, and tie into that. With MAVLINK access, any app that supports MAVLINK comms should be able to get some information to and fro.

I bought a SDR (USB DVB-T Digital TV Adapter) dongle to see if I could sniff out the video feed, but there is a learning curve with that device, and the software that makes it work.

The ultimate goal is to have the X-Star running PX4, or Ardupilot. For that, I need to crack that firmware file, and inject custom firmware.

Did you ever make any progress on this? just picked up my autel evo, i love it but i do wish it was supported on all the 3rd party software