Read and Plot Navigation Data Using MATLAB Support Package for Parrot Drones

Introduction

The MATLAB Support Package for Parrot Drones enables you to control and read the in flight navigation data of the drone.

In this example, you will learn to read navigation data of the Parrot drone such as the speed, orientation, and height using MATLAB commands.

Prerequisites

Complete Getting Started with MATLAB Support Package for Parrot Drones.

Required Hardware

To run this example you need the following:

Task 1 - Hardware Setup

Task 2 - Create a Parrot Object

Create a parrot object.

  p = parrot();

Task 3 - Take-off the Drone

Start the Parrot FPV drone flight from a level surface.

Execute the following command at the MATLAB command prompt the takeoff of the drone.

  takeoff(p);

Task 3 - Initialize MATLAB animatedline and figure Window Properties

This task shows you how to initialize MATLAB to plot the navigation data.

Use MATLAB animatedline to plot the variation in speed along the X, Y, and Z axes, separately.

Initialize the figure handle and create animated line instances hx, hy, and hz corresponding to speeds along the X, Y, and Z axes, respectively.

   f = figure;
   hx = animatedline('Color', 'r', 'LineWidth', 2);
   hy = animatedline('Color', 'g', 'LineWidth', 2);
   hz = animatedline('Color', 'b', 'LineWidth', 2);
   title('DroneSpeed v/s Time');
   xlabel('Time (in s)');
   ylabel('Speed (in m/s)');
   legend('XSpeed', 'YSpeed', 'ZSpeed');

Task 4 - Plot Navigation Data During Drone Flight

Keep flying the drone along the desired path (forward diagonal path in this example) for 10 seconds and plot navigation data (speed) during this flight.

The default value of duration in move function is 0.5 seconds.

  flightTime = 10;
  tObj = tic;
  while(p.BatteryLevel > 10 && toc(tObj) < flightTime)
      move(p, 'Pitch', deg2rad(-4), 'Roll', deg2rad(4));
      speed = readSpeed(p);
      tStamp = toc(tObj);
      addpoints(hx, tStamp, speed(1));
      addpoints(hy, tStamp, speed(2));
      addpoints(hz, tStamp, speed(3));
      drawnow;
      pause(0.1);
 end

Task 5 - Land the Drone

Land the drone.

land(p);

Task 6 - Clean Up

When finished, clear the connection to the Parrot drone.

clear p;