Hotkeys

The keyboard input of Skybrush Sidekick is optimised to reduce reaction time of fleet control as much as possible through the following handy features:

  • To select a single drone, just type in its numeric ID and press Enter. Alternatively, you can also use the arrow keys or the cursor (with a mouse, touchpad or touchscreen) to navigate to the desired drone ID.

  • To switch to broadcasting mode without explicit selection, just press Esc

  • To send commands to the selected drones (or all drones in the absence of a selection), press the hotkeys listed at the bottom of the control panel.

  • The hotkeys for selecting a single drone and subsequently sending a command can be merged and the Enter key at the end of the drone selection keyboard sequence can be omitted in this case; for instance, typing 1 4 7 L will land drone 147 immediately.

Table 1. Control command hotkeys
Keyboard shortcut Function

W

Flash LED of selected/all drones

S

Activate show flight mode on selected/all drones

P

Activate position hold flight mode on selected/all drones

R

Activate return to home flight mode on selected/all drones

L

Activate land flight mode on selected/all drones

Shift+X

Disarm motors of selected/all drones (only affects drones on the ground).
The hotkey descriptions on the control panel explicitely define whether the hotkeys refer to the selection or all drones. A confirmation dialog prevents the accidental activation of a command in broadcast mode by default, but these confirmations can be turned off. Always double check that you send commands to only those drones that you really want to control.