Let the swarm begin!

ph2t · Mar 7, 2019

Have started mucking about with swarm stuff. It’s fun!

I have worked out the code to connect the tello to a wifi access point and then issue commands to multiple tellos at once. Once I’ve done some more work on it I’ll post the code.

It’s good working in a school where they can bankroll one’s obsessions, lol.

Cheers,
ph2t.

Ansia · Mar 7, 2019

Can you program them to take pictures of girls at the beach from different angles? That would be great!

ph2t · Mar 7, 2019

So I've made a small video of my work so far. Feel free to check it out.

Notes:

You will need to connect to each tello first to activate it. Without activation it won't act on any commands.
You will need to connect to each tello to create the wifi profile on a laptop, this is a feature of windows. Wifi profile is used in the script below to connect to the tello wifi networks.
Each tello has had its MAC address noted.
The DHCP server on the wifi network has had the three tello MAC addresses entered as an IP address reservation, this way the each tello gets the same IP address each time it connects to the tello-dev wifi network.

The code below runs in the command prompt in windows. It's a batch file, very simple. You need Packetsender, you can get it from here: Packet Sender - Download
The code connects to each tello edu wifi and then gets the tello to connect to a regular wifi network. In this case it is called tello-dev.

Code:

@echo off

REM connect to tello black and make it connect to tello-dev wifi

    netsh wlan connect ssid=TELLO-D3A1BA name=TELLO-D3A1BA   
    timeout /t 10
    packetsender -u -a 192.168.10.1 8889 command
    timeout /t 2
    packetsender -u -a 192.168.10.1 8889 "ap tello-dev t3ll0Q1!"
    timeout /t 1

REM connect to tello green and make it connect to tello-dev wifi

    netsh wlan connect ssid=TELLO-D3AA96 name=TELLO-D3AA96
    timeout /t 10
    packetsender -u -a 192.168.10.1 8889 command
    timeout /t 2
    packetsender -u -a 192.168.10.1 8889 "ap tello-dev t3ll0Q1!"
    timeout /t 1

REM connect to tello red and make it connect to tello-dev wifi

    netsh wlan connect ssid=TELLO-D3A403 name=TELLO-D3A403
    timeout /t 10
    packetsender -u -a 192.168.10.1 8889 command
    timeout /t 2
    packetsender -u -a 192.168.10.1 8889 "ap tello-dev t3ll0Q1!"
    timeout /t 1

netsh wlan connect ssid=tello-dev name=tello-dev
timeout /t 10

ping 10.105.221.20
ping 10.105.221.21
ping 10.105.221.22

The code below is a simple flight plan. It runs in the windows command prompt and the packetsender application needs to be in the same directory to run. I used the ZIP version of packetsender and then copied it into my c:\windows folder so it can be called from anywhere.

This is a batch file, very simple. It isn't fully synchronous as if the code was done in python. The batch files have a very small delay in issuing commands to three tellos at once. I think python would be better at this. The advantage here is that batch files are very simple, like me, lol....

Code:

@echo off

REM connect to wifi network that all the tellos are connected to

netsh wlan connect ssid=tello-dev name=tello-dev
timeout /t 3

REM tellos enter command/SDK mode

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 command
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 command
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 command

timeout /t 5

REM tellos take off

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 takeoff
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 takeoff
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 takeoff

timeout /t 5

REM set different speeds for each tello

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 "speed 10"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 "speed 50"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 "speed 90"

timeout /t 5

REM go forward at various distances for each tello

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 "forward 50"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 "forward 100"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 "forward 150"

timeout /t 5

REM climb to a higher altitude or not!

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 "up 100"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 "up 50"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 "up 0"

timeout /t 5

REM turn tellos in different directions

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 "cw 90"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 "cw 180"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 "ccw 90"

timeout /t 5

REM move all tellos forward at different lengths

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 "forward 50"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 "forward 100"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 "forward 150"

timeout /t 5

REM land all tellos

packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.20 8889 "land"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.21 8889 "land"
packetsender -u -a 10.105.221.22 8889 "land"

cheers,

ph2t.

Ansia · Mar 7, 2019

Well done!

popgun · Jun 20, 2019

fantastic stuff!

patroy · Jul 17, 2019

OK so call me slow, did you just set your laptop IP to the same 192.168.10.x network or did you set a router to the 192.168.10.x I mean. for that initial connection to a drone, do I need a router at all?

Deleted member 8866 · Jul 29, 2019

this is really cool. thanks for sharing

martinpi · Jan 11, 2020

patroy said:
OK so call me slow, did you just set your laptop IP to the same 192.168.10.x network or did you set a router to the 192.168.10.x I mean. for that initial connection to a drone, do I need a router at all?

Tello EDU has the ability to connect to an existing access point, normal tello provides an access point with ip = 192.168.10.1.
For a swarm, you need Tello EDU.

I did not know about packetsender, thanks for sharing.

newbiePilot · Feb 10, 2020

martinpi said:
Tello EDU has the ability to connect to an existing access point, normal tello provides an access point with ip = 192.168.10.1.
For a swarm, you need Tello EDU.

I did not know about packetsender, thanks for sharing.

If tello edu can connect to an existing access point, does that mean tello edu can be connected to my home router, which I uses its WIFI to connect to the internet. Thus, tello edu can be connected to the internet?

volate!lo · Feb 10, 2020

newbiePilot said:
If tello edu can connect to an existing access point, does that mean tello edu can be connected to my home router, which I uses its WIFI to connect to the internet. Thus, tello edu can be connected to the internet?

You'd have to convince the router to forward local UDP packages to the internet. A VPN could do the trick

martinpi · Feb 10, 2020

Yes, this should be possible. I don't not know what you can do over the internet, Possibly you could read the video stream.

newbiePilot · Feb 11, 2020

I was thinking about sharing my tello feed (connecting to the tello via my computer instead of the phone). Does that mean this is only possible with telloEDU instead of the original tello?

newbiePilot · Feb 12, 2020

volate!lo said:
You'd have to convince the router to forward local UDP packages to the internet. A VPN could do the trick

Hi volate!lo, first off, I'm a big fan of your telloFPV app. Great work!

I saw that you have a copilot app. And I'm curious, why "TelloFpv acts as a hub" (from your description) instead of just having the copilot to get the video from the wifi-extender?

volate!lo · Feb 13, 2020

I guess you kow the answer...
If you hook up an extender to your wifi and connect your and your girlfriend's phones to it: can your girlfriend now read your emails?

martinpi · Mar 30, 2020

newbiePilot said:
If tello edu can connect to an existing access point, does that mean tello edu can be connected to my home router, which I uses its WIFI to connect to the internet. Thus, tello edu can be connected to the internet?

Second answer:
When in station mode (i.e. connected to a router), Tello EDU does not stream the video.
Whether you like it (security) or not.