felixge/node-ar-drone

Support for V1 video

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#34 opened on Jan 24, 2013

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 (6 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (1,748 stars) (438 forks)batch import
help wanted

Description

Hey,

Been doing some work integrating with a custom server that uses node-ar-drone to connect to a parrot V1, a web based client connects to the server and can control the Parrot.

Problem is that the video stream is based on TCP, which is only for V2. For V1 it is streamed via UDP, which is initialised by sending a UDP packet to the video port on the drone. To make matters worse, the 'codecs' appear to be custom, derived from mjpeg and h.264.

Looking at the doco it appears the mjpeg would be the easiest, however I understand if you don't wish to support backward compatibility with the V1. The effort to support one of the types is kinda wasted as less and less V1 drones are around.

I might have a crack at it if I have time. I would rather not bother and work with a V2, alas I only have access to a V1 at the moment.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
backend
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
over 1 week
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
Node.jsUDP networkingvideo streaming concepts
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
15
Research direction
Investigate the UDP streaming format used by V1 drones, which differs from V2's TCP. Review the node ar drone source code for the existing TCP video support in lib/video.js. Look into custom MJPEG and H.264 codec libraries for Node.js. Consider implementing a UDP listener that handles the V1 video packets and feeds them into a compatible stream.