Control panel
The control panel on the left side of the main window enables you to send commands to the selected drone or to all drones.
Actions
The actions group contains big colorful buttons for each available command to send. The coloring of the buttons indicate the severity of the command execution.
The following control commands are available from Skybrush Sidekick:
- Show mode
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Activate the SHOW flight mode on the selected drones. This is a required step as part of the prearm preparations for drone shows (but can be automated in Skybrush Live). Since drone shows managed by the Skybrush Suite are preprogrammed from takeoff to landing, if SHOW mode is activated in mid-air, it will act as a simple position hold mode.
- Position hold
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Activate the LOITER flight mode on the selected drones. This will stop the motion of selected drones and will enable manual control for the pilot.
- Return to home
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Activate the RTH flight mode on the selected drones. This will bring selected drones home as defined by their RTH-related firmware parameters.
- Land
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Activate the LAND flight mode on the selected drones. This will land selected drones with the speed defined by the related firmware parameters.
- Disarm
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Disarm motors on the selected drones. This will stop motors even if drones are in mid-air. Use it only as an emergency kill switch.
| Using these buttons might cause mid-air collisions if operated on multiple drones simultaneously. Use them only as a proper and determined emergency action! Full responsibility is with the operator. |
Lights
Lights of selected drones can be overridden by Skybrush Sidekick by clicking on the desired color.
The FLASH button is special in the sense that it is only a temporary override with a quick black and white rapid flashing to be able to identify a single drone quickly on the field.
The rest of the buttons will cause a color override that is sustained for one minute. After that the coloring will be controlled onboard again (light show in show flight mode, solid color in other flight modes etc.).
Hotkeys
The hotkeys group lists the hotkeys associated with the available command actions.
The text descriptor of the hotkeys explicitely states whether the actual command is applicable for a single selected drone or for all drones.
Read more about hotkeys in the Hotkeys section.