The TSC Working Groups provide brief summary updates here. More detailed monthly status updates may be found in the Dronecode blog here.
SDK WG
The SDK WG has made significant progress this month:
- DroneCore gRPC bindings moving forward for multiple language support:
- Support for Python has been added along with examples: https://github.com/dronecore/DroneCore-Python
- Dynamic Plugin loading has been implemented: https://github.com/dronecore/DroneCore/pull/143
- Follow Me Plugin has been added
- https://github.com/dronecore/DroneCore/pull/142
- Documentation added too: API Ref, Guide
- Documentation:
- Added a script for document generation: https://github.com/dronecore/DroneCore/pull/166
- Support for Debian/Ubuntu package generation has been added:
Next Steps:
- gRPC bindings for Java
- Enable Flexible Plugin architecture:
Note: First major release for DroneCore is planned to align with PX 1.8 release (March 2018).
Camera API WG
- Camera control protocol changes have now been documented. Updates may be required following user feedback.
- Common Camera Module for SITL & Drones:
- Design information can be found here.
- Image capture feature was added in camera-streaming-daemon.
- Option to set count and interval missing in QGC.
- Work is progressing on adding support for Gazebo Camera.
- Video Streaming
- MAVLink messages for video streaming have been on hold. Now that camera control message documentation is complete we plan to restart work on the video messages.
Messaging WG
- FastRTPS
- Intel are working on an example of Optical Flow running with FastRTPS on the Intel Aero.
- Micro-ROS
- Initial discussion with eProsima about integrating PX4 with Micro-ROS.
Safety WG
- Progress continues with the FAA on the Partnership for Safety MOU. We hope to finish it in time for it to be announced at CES on Jan 10th.
- Once the partnership is in place, the process of coordinating the various federal stakeholders to gain certification for the Dronecode stack will accelerate.
Code Quality WG
New continuous integration (CI) system with dynamically scaling build capacity via Amazon EC2. This will allow Dronecode to drastically expand the automated testing infrastructure for PX4 Firmware, Dronecore, and even QGroundControl.
The majority of the existing build and test infrastructure has migrated. The next steps are:
- new mission test framework with Dronecore
- add code coverage
- work with PX4 Firmware component leads to expand testing coverage
- run tests under sanitizers (address sanitizer, thread sanitizer)
- incorporate hardware testing (HIL)
As image showing the firmware CI build pipe line is shown below (see pipelines).
UX WG
Group activities has been suspended until WG participants have more time available to contribute.
