[Link]

3/tr/qgc-user-
guide/settings_view/[Link]

QGroundControl User Guide

QGroundControl provides full flight control and vehicle setup for PX4 or ArduPilot
powered vehicles. It provides easy and straightforward usage for beginners, while still
delivering high end feature support for experienced users.
Key Features:

 Full stup/configuration of ArduPilot and PX4 Pro powered vehicles.

 FFlight support for vehicles running PX4 and ArduPilot (or any other autopilot
that communicates using the MAVLink protocol).
 Mission planning for autonomous flight.
 Flight map display showing vehicle position, flight track, waypoints and vehicle
instruments.
 Video streaming with instrument display overlays.
 Support for managing multiple vehicles.
 QGC runs on Windows, OS X, Linux platforms, iOS and Android devices.

General Settings (Settings View)

The general settings (SettingsView > General Settings) are the main place for application-level
configuration. Settable values include: display units, autoconnection devices, video display and
storage, RTK GPS, brand image, and other miscellaneous settings.
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Values are settable even if no vehicle is connected. Settings that require a vehicle restart are
indicated in the UI.
 Units
This section defines the display units used in the application.

The settings are:

 Distance: Meters | Feet
 Area: SquareMetres | SquareFeet | SquareKilometers | Hectares | Acres | SquareMiles
 Speed: Metres/second | Feet/second | Miles/hour | Kilometres/hour | Knots
 Temperature: Celsius | Fahrenheit
 Miscellaneous
This section defines a number of miscellaneous settings, related to (non exhaustively): font sizes,
colour schemes, map providers, map types, telemetry logging, audio output, low battery
announcement levels, default mission altitude, virtual joysticks, mission autoloading, default
application file load/save path etc.

The settings are:

 Language: System (System Language) | Bulgarian, Chinese, ...

 Color Scheme: Indoor (Dark) | Outdoor (Light)
 Map Provider: Google | Mapbox | Bing | Airmap | VWorld | Eniro | Statkart
 Map Type: Road | Hybrid | Satellite
 Stream GCS Position: Never | Always | When in Follow Me Flight Mode.
 UI Scaling: UI scale percentage (affects fonts, icons, button sizes, layout etc.)
 Mute all audio output: Turns off all audio output.
 Check for Internet Connection: Uncheck to allow maps to be used in China/places where map
tile downloads are likely to fail (stops the map-tile engine continually rechecking for an Internet
connection).
 Autoload Missions: If enabled, automatically upload a plan to the vehicle on connection.
 The plan file must be named AutoLoad#.plan, where the # is replaced with the vehicle id.
 The plan file must be located in the Application Load/Save Path.
 Clear all settings on next start: Resets all settings to the default (including this one)
when QGroundControl restarts.
 Announce battery lower than: Battery level at which QGroundControl will start low battery
announcements.
 Application Load/Save Path: Default location for loading/saving application files, including:
parameters, telemetry logs, and mission plans.

Data Persistence

The settings are:

 Disable all data persistence: Check to prevent any data being saved or cached: logs, map tiles
etc. This setting disables the telemetry logs section.

Telemetry Logs from Vehicle

The settings are:

 Save log after each flight: Telemetry logs (.tlog) automatically saved to the Application
Load/Save Path (above) after flight.
 Save logs even if vehicle was not armed: Logs when a vehicle connects to QGroundControl.
Stops logging when the last vehicle disconnects.
 CSV Logging: Log subset of telemetry data to a CSV file.
 Fly View

The settings are:

 Use Preflight Checklist: Enable pre-flight checklist in Fly toolbar.

 Enforce Preflight Checklist: Checklist completion is a pre-condition for arming.
 Keep Map Centered on Vehicle: Forces map to center on the currently selected vehicle.
 Show Telemetry Log Replay Status Bar: Display status bar for Replaying Flight Data.
 Virtual Joystick: Enable virtual joysticks (PX4 only)
 Use Vertical Instrument Panel: Align instrument panel vertically rather than horizontally
(default).
 Show additional heading indicators on Compass: Adds additional indicators to the compass
rose:
 Blue arrow: course over ground.
 White house: direction back to home.
 Green line: Direction to next waypoint.
 Lock Compass Nose-Up: Check to rotate the compass rose (default is to rotate the vehicle
inside the compass indicateor).
 Guided Minimum Altitude: Minimum value for guided actions altitude slider.
 Guided Maximum Altitude: Minimum value for guided actions altitude slider.
 Go To Location Max Distance: The maximum distance that a Go To location can be set from
the current vehicle location (in guided mode).
 Plan View

The settings are:

 Default Mission Altitude: The default altitude used for the Mission Start Panel, and hence for
the first waypoint.

AutoConnect to the following devices

This section defines the set of devices to which QGroundControl will auto-connect.

Settings include:
 Pixhawk: Autoconnect to Pixhawk-series device
 SiK Radio: Autoconnect to SiK (Telemetry) radio
 PX4 Flow: Autoconnect to PX4Flow device
 LibrePilot: Autoconnect to Libre Pilot autopilot
 UDP: Autoconnect to UDP
 RTK GPS: Autoconnect to RTK GPS device
 NMEA GPS Device: Autoconnect to an external GPS device to get ground station position (see
below)
Ground Station Location (NMEA GPS Device)
QGroundControl will automatically use an internal GPS to display its own location on the map
with a purple Q icon (if the GPS provides a heading, this will be also indicated by the icon). It
may also use the GPS as a location source for Follow Me Mode - currently supported on PX4
Multicopters only.
You can also configure QGC to connect to an external GPS device via a serial or UDP port. The
GPS device must support the ASCII NMEA format - this is normally the case.
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 A higher quality external GPS system may be useful even if the ground station has internal GPS
support.
Use the NMEA GPS Device drop-down selector to manually select the GPS device and other
options:

 USB connection:

 NMEA GPS Device: Serial

 NMEA GPS Baudrate: The baudrate for the serial port
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To troubleshoot serial GPS problems: Disable RTK GPS auto connection,
close QGroundControl, reconnect your GPS, and open QGC.
 Network connection:

 NMEA GPS Device: UDP Port.

 NMEA Stream UDP Port: The UDP port on which QGC will listen for NMEA data (QGC
binds the port as a server)

RTK GPS
This section allows you to specify the RTK GPS "Survey-in" settings, to save and reuse the
result of a Survey-In operation, or to directly enter any other known position for the base station.
 INFO
The Survey-In process is a startup procedure required by RTK GPS systems to get an accurate
estimate of the base station position. The process takes measurements over time, leading to
increasing position accuracy. Both of the setting conditions must met for the Survey-in process
to complete. For more information see RTK GPS (PX4 docs) and GPS- How it works (ArduPilot
docs).

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In order to save and reuse a base position (because Survey-In is time consuming!) perform
Survey-In once, select Use Specified Base Position and press Save Current Base Position to
copy in the values for the last survey. The values will then persist across QGC reboots until they
are changed.

The settings are:

 Perform Survey-In
 Survey-in accuracy (U-blox only): The minimum position accuracy for the RTK Survey-In
process to complete.
 Minimum observation duration: The minimum time that will be taken for the RTK Survey-in
process.
 Use Specified Base Position
 Base Position Latitude: Latitude of fixed RTK base station.
 Base Position Longitude: Longitude of fixed RTK base station.
 Base Position Alt (WGS94): Altitude of fixed RTK base station.
 Base Position Accuracy: Accuracy of base station position information.
 Save Current Base Position (button): Press to copy settings from the last Survey-In operation to
the Use Specified Base Position fields above.

ADSB Server

The settings are:

 Connect to ADSB SBS server: Check to connect to ADSB server on startup.

 Host address: Host address of ADSB server
 Server port: Port of ADSB server
QGC can consume ADSB messages in SBS format from a remote or local server (at the specified
IP address/port) and display detected vehicles on the Fly View map.
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One way to get ADSB information from nearby vehicles is to use dump1090 to serve the data
from a connected RTL-SDR dongle to QGC. The steps are: 1. Get an RTL-SDR dongle (and
antenna) and attach it to your ground station computer (you may need to find compatible drivers
for your OS). 1. Install dump1090 on your OS (either pre-built or build from source). 1.
Run dump1090 --net to start broadcasting messages for detected vehicles on TCP localhost port
30003 ([Link]:30003). 1. Enter the server ([Link]) and port (30003) address in the QGC
settings above. 1. Restart QGC to start seeing local vehicles on the map.

Video
The Video section is used to define the source and connection settings for video that will be
displayed in Fly View.
 The settings are:
 Video Source: Video Stream Disabled | RTSP Video Stream | UDP h.264 Video Stream | UDP
h.265 Video Stream | TCP-MPEG2 Video Stream | MPEG-TS (h.264) Video Stream | Integrated
Camera
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If no video source is specified then no other video or video recording settings will be displayed
(above we see the settings when UDP source is selected).
 URL/Port: Connection type-specific stream address (may be port or URL).
 Aspect Ratio: Aspect ratio for scaling video in video widget (set to 0.0 to ignore scaling)
 Disabled When Disarmed: Disable video feed when vehicle is disarmed.
 Low Latency Mode: Enabling low latency mode reduces the video stream latency, but may
cause frame loss and choppy video (especially with a poor network connection).

Video Recording
The Video Recording section is used to specify the file format and maximum allocated file
storage for storing video. Videos are saved to a sub-directory ("Video") of the Application
Load/Save Path.
 The settings are:

 Auto-Delete Files: If checked, files are auto deleted when the specified amount of storage is
used.
 Max Storage Usage: Maximum video file storage before video files are auto deleted.
 Video File Format: File format for the saved video recording: mkv, mov, mp4.

Brand Image
This setting specifies the brand image used for indoor/outdoor colour schemes.
The brand image is displayed in place of the icon for the connected autopilot in the top right
corner of the toolbar. It is provided so that users can easily create screen/video captures that
include a company logo/branding.

The settings are:

 Indoor Image: Brand image used in indoor color scheme
 Outdoor Image: Brand image used in outdoor color scheme
 Reset Default Brand Image: Reset the brand image back to default.
CSV Logging

When checked, a CSV (comma-separated value) telemetry file will be created along with
the usual .tlog telemetry file. The file is only created if Save log after each flight is
enabled, and is recorded for the same duration.

This CSV file contains the most relevant vehicle telemetry data available for quick
analysis such as GPS position, attitude, battery status, and others. It is populated at 1 Hz
and while it is not as detailed as the telemetry log, it is a lot easier to work with and
quicker to extract data out of.

The file can be opened by common spreadsheet software, including: Microsoft Excel,
Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc or OpenOffice Calc.

Offline Maps
Offline Maps allows you to cache map tiles for use when not connected to the Internet.
You can create multiple offline sets, each for a different location.

Add new set

To create a new offline map set, click "Add new set". Which will take you to this page:
From here you can name your set as well as specify the zoom levels you want to cache.
Move the map to the position you want to cache and then set the zoom levels and click
Download to cache the tiles.

To the left you can see previews of the min and max zoom levels you have chosen.

MAVLink Settings
The MAVLink settings (SettingsView > MAVLink) allow you to configure options and
view information specific to MAVLink communications. This includes setting the
MAVLink system ID for QGroundControl and viewing link quality.

The screen also allows you to manage MAVLink 2 Log Streaming (PX4 only),
including automating log upload to Flight Review!
 Ground Station
This section sets the MAVLink properties and behaviour of QGroundControl.

 MAVLink System ID: System ID of QGroundControl on the MAVLink network (Default:

255). Vehicles are typically allocated IDs from 1. You may have to specify another ID if
there are multiple ground stations or MAVLink applications on the network.
 Emit heartbeat: Disable emission of regular MAVLink HEARTBEAT message (Default:
True). Generally speaking, you should not turn this off.
 Only accept MAVs with the same protocol version: Set true to only connect to
MAVLink 1 or to MAVLink 2 vehicles (Default: True).
 Enable MAVLink forwarding: Enable QGroundControl to forward MAVLink messages
from connected vehicles to another UDP endpoint (Default: False). Note that this
forwarding is one-way: from QGC to the specified host. Any MAVLink messages that are
received from the specified host will be ignored.

Link Status
This shows the status of MAVLink message transfer over the communications link. A
high Loss rate may lead to protocol errors for things like parameter download or
mission upload/download.
MAVLink 2 Logging (PX4 only)
The MAVLink 2 Logging settings (PX4 only) configure real-time log streaming from PX4
to QGroundControl and upload of logs to Flight Review.

WARNING

MAVLink 2 Logging cannot be used on "basic" setups because it requires a constant high-rate
MAVLink connection to the vehicle (it may work over WiFI but will not work over a Telemetry link).

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In theory log streaming allows real time analysis of data. At time of writing real-time analysis has not
yet been implemented.

The log format is the same as for SD Card logs (downloaded using Analyze View > Log
Download), but actual data logged may be slightly different because log start/stop time
is controlled by QGroundControl and because some dropouts may occur when
streaming over a lossy channel.

The MAVLink 2 Logging section allows you to manually start and stop logging, and to
enable automatic capture of logs.
 The MAVLink 2 Log Uploads section allows you configure uploading of MAVLink logs
to Flight Review. You can specify all the fields that you would otherwise have to directly
enter in the site, and also choose whether logs are automatically or manually uploaded.

The fields are:

 Email address for Log Uploads: Flight Review will email you a link to the upload at this
address. This is important as otherwise you will have no way to access a non-public log
after upload.
 Default Description: Description/name of flight used for log.
 Default Upload URL: URL for upload of the log/log metadata. This is set by default to
the Flight Review URL.
 Video URL: (Optional) URL for video of flight associated with log. This may be included
on the Flight Review page to ease analysis.
 Wind Speed: Used to aid debugging and filtering (from multiple flights). Allowed
values: Calm | Breeze | Gale | Storm.
 Flight Rating: Used to aid debugging and filtering (from multiple flights). Allowed
values: Crashed (Pilot Error) | Crashed (Software or Hardware
Issue) | Unsatisfactory | Good | Great.
 Additional Feedback: (Optional). Enter a more detailed description of the flight or
behaviour.
 Make this log publically available: If set, the log will be visible and searchable
on Flight Review. If not set, it will only be available via the link emailed on upload.
 Enable automatic log uploads: If set, the log will automatically be uploaded on
completion.
 Delete log file after uploading: If set, the log will automatically deleted after upload.

The Saved Log Files section is used to manually manage log uploads. Use the
checkboxes and buttons to select logs, and either delete or upload them.

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You can change the parameters in MAVLink 2 Log Uploads above to specify separate descriptions for
uploaded logs.