Installation of MavCam for HereLink #
1) Download and Unzip file MavCamHL.apk
2) Copy file to microSD card
3) Insert SD card to your Herelink
4) Click to notification – “New SD card detected”
5) Select “USE as portable storage” and confirm NEXT and DONE
6) Re-open notification area, click to “SD Card for transferring photos and media”
7) Click to MavCamHL.apk
8) Allow external sources if necessary
9) Install
10) Open app
11) Confirm “drawing over other apps” (this needs to be done only first time)
12) Click home button
13) In right bottom corner open list of installed applications
14) Run MavCam
Tips and Tricks #
MavCam for HereLink is easy app, however there are few features which are not clear at first look.
Swipe shortcuts #
Main handle is used as shortcut to other menus via Swiping:
1) SWIPE RIGHT – MavCam configuration
2) SWIPE UP – Camera configuration (Shutterspeed / Aperture / etc.)
• Camera configuration panel has small handle at right edge, which will expand panel with information about Entire status, and Entire configuration
3) SWIPE LEFT – hide MavCam
• Hide MavCam. This is handy when you need to use software keyboard, where sometimes MavCam interfere with ENTER key. Swipe up in the middle of bottom screen to re-open MavCam.
Control via C & D buttons #
You can enable capturing of C & D buttons on the HereLink by MavCam. Then you can use C & D buttons to control exposure or zoom.
1) LONG PRESS D – will open popup window, where you can select function to be controlled
2) SHORT PRESS C or D – will execute selected function
Last used function for CD tool is saved, so after reboot will be set automatically. If you lastly used ZOOM, after reboot will CD buttons control ZOOM again.
Video about CD tool.
Trigger photo/video with HW button #
Additionally you can enable “HW photo button” in the MavCam settings (swipe right). Then MavCam will capture short press of photo button and trigger photo when button is pressed.
Newly you can also select “HW video button” option in the same menu. Now long press of photo button trigger movie start/stop in the ENTIRE.
Use tilt wheel to control tilt #
Under the gimbal section select “HW Wheel” option. Now physical tilt wheel on the HereLink body will control your gimbal tilt via MavLink. MavCam will generate mavlink command data to the Cube or ENTIRE (selected automatically per usage scenario) for control of the gimbal tilt. No SBUS connection is needed i nthe gimbal or Cube. The ENTIRE must be connected to Gremsy via COM for this feature or you need to use Ardupilot gimbal control feature.
Using "Joystick" for gimbal control #
Our On-Screen joystick is handy tool for control of gimbal / camera attitude. Gimbal has also few shortcut buttons for quick swap between horizon / down angle and recentering. Available buttons may change depending on usage scenarios.
- Camera with two arrows button (on the left)
- This button sets camera tilt down if tilt up at least 45deg to the horizon.
- This camera sets camera to look horizon if tilt is down more than 45 deg.
- This button is used when you need to quickly switch between horizon/down caemra position.
- Four arrows center button
- This button is used te re-center the camera attitude.
- When user is lost about where drone nose is relative to gimbal, press “recenter button” and gimbal will re-set to defualt YAW and tilt to horizon
- Strangled hand button
- This icon is available with new Ardupilot implementation
- When Ardupilot MavLink gimbal control (between Ardupilot and the Gimbal) control is used, user may choose multiple control channels of the gimbal (RCx_OPTION, MavLink, GPS point targeting, etc.). When MavCam’s joystick is used, MavCam takes over the control and Ardupilot refuses all other control channels. When user needs to release control to other control channels, press buttons with Strangled hand
- When control by MavCam is released by Strangled hand icon, attitude of the gimbal remains unchanged, just control is released for other sources.
- When Joystick is used again, control is back locked to MavCam.
Hiding unused MavCam features #
MavCam provides access to all available camera controls of either the ENTIRE or cameras directly connected. However, not all controls may be available in every usage scenario. For example, if you typically use your camera in M (Manual) exposure mode, the Exposure Correction feature is unnecessary as it is non-functional in M mode. Similarly, if your camera does not support MENU control and navigation, the buttons in MavCam will be irrelevant.
For such cases, we allow users to hide features they do not need to simplify the user interface.
Hiding of the MavCam features is done via ENTIRE’s MENU, it may be a bit confusing, however if you have multiple payloads, features may differ per payload, so configuration is saved in the ENTIRE and propagated to the MavCam via Mavlink. When you swap payloads with different ENTIRE onboard, MavCam will instantly swap controls per unit. Alternatively you can use ENTIRE’s memory banks to swap controls / settings per payload instantly. Loading of memorybanks can be done via MavCam.
To configure this, navigate to the ENTIRE’s web UI, select
MENU -> Miscellaneous -> MavCam Options.
Here, you’ll find a list of features that can be hidden. Controls are removed from both, the left control window and the CD tool, if present.
Zoom handle #
Zoom and focus panel are scrollable:
When you opened Camera control panel, there is a few exposure tools. One of them is ZOOM.
ZOOM handle reacts to PLUS or MINUS clicks as all others, but you can also swipe the ZOOM icon in the center to the left or right.
Swiping left or right will give you proportional zoom control if camera supports this feature. 
If your camera supports proportional focusing, you can also use this sliding approach for focus tool (currently supported only for PhaseOne cameras).
Using HereLink with external control app (QGC / MissionPlanner / UgCS / etc.) #
NOTE! External apps will not work with their default UDP settings. You have to use following IPs and ports.
MavCam uses UDP port 14552 in the HereLink so this port cannot be shared with external application. For these cases, where external control needs to be gained, MavCam forwards all data to new UDP port 14562. Please configure your external application to use 14562 port instead of default 14552. MavCam must be running to gain control via 14562!
QGC external configuration #
for cases of share in local network (not directly connected to the HereLink hotspot)
– Click to Q icon in top left corner
– Application settings
– Comm Links
– Add
– Fill name
– Check “automatically connect on start”
– Type UDP
– Port 14562
– IP: IP of your HereLink in local network
– Click – Add Server
– Confirm OK
– Select new port and click Connect
MissionPlanner external configuration #
for cases of share in local network (not directly connected to the HereLink hotspot)
– Open MissionPlanner
– Connection mode UDPCI 
– Click Connect
– Fill IP of your HereLink in local network 
– Fill port 14562
– Confirm OK
UgCS external configuration #
for cases of share in local network (not directly connected to the HereLink hotspot)
– Open UgCS configuration file (“C:\Program Files (x86)\UgCS\bin\vsm-ardupilot.conf”)
– Search for part beginning #Vehicle can be connected via UDP.
– Fill there UDP options:
* connection.udp_in.1.local_port = 14550
* connection.udp_out.1.address = IP of your HereLink in local network
* connection.udp_out.1.port = 14562
Usage of HereLink on wildlife buggy
or other non-drone scenario #
You can use HereLink & Entire also without drone flight controller. Entire can be connected directly to the HereLink “Air Unit” and provide camera control directly. In these cases, QGC (drone control and live HDMI feed application) is not suitable as contains lots of additional information related to drone. For these cases we have written simple application to display fullscreen video without any additional data about the drone.
- Download and Unzip file Fullscreen_video_HL.apk
- unzip file Fullscreen_video_HL.apk
- copy file to microSD card
- insert SD card to your Herelink
- click to notification – “New SD card detected”
- select “USE as portable storage” and confirm NEXT and DONE
- re-open notification area, click to “SD Card for transferring photos and media”
- click to Fullscreen_video_HL.apk
- allow external sources if necessary
- Install
- Optional – long press APP icon and “Add to favourites” to bring app to homescreen
- Open app
Solution: Close the app again and open again.
Using MavCam with SIYI remote controllers #
All information stated on this page for HereLink is valid. Only addition you need to configure on SIYI remotes is to open Siyi TX app in your remote and configure “CONNECTION MODE” to “UDP”.
Internal QGC app if used will get data forwarded from the MavCam automatically.
