Introduction to Ground Control Station Software

In previous chapters of this book, we studied major unmanned systems, their subsystems, and the sensors on the hardware side. We also studied firmware, which is used as a link between hardware and software to make the system function, as well as the basics of command and control software, called ground control software, with its different types and usage. In this chapter, we will learn about the in-depth usage of ground control software that is used to command, control, and set up a drone for flight. A Ground Control Station (GCS) is also used to transmit and receive real-time telemetry data during the flight and monitor the drone’s navigation and sensor health while it flies in both manual and autonomous modes. We will walk through the different kinds of GCS systems and how we can control and configure the drone with the help of a GCS.

In this chapter, we are going to cover the following topics, which will be helpful for us...