HereLink Camera control

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

HereLink Camera control application 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.

swiping
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 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.

Video about HW trigger.

Use tilt wheel to control tilt #

Under the gimbal section select “HW Wheel” option. Now physical tilt wheel on HereLink will control your gimbal tilt via MavLink. No SBUS connection is needed. The ENTIRE must be connected to Gremsy via COM for this feature.

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

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

HereLink Camera control application 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.

swiping
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 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.

Video about HW trigger.

Use tilt wheel to control tilt

Under the gimbal section select “HW Wheel” option. Now physical tilt wheel on HereLink will control your gimbal tilt via MavLink. No SBUS connection is needed. The ENTIRE must be connected to Gremsy via COM for this feature.

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