DCM Configuration File

The Dronecode Camera Manager (DCM) loads a configuration file with custom options/settings when it is started.

The samples/config directory contains sample configuration files that you can use for Ubuntu, Aero and other platforms.

By default the DCM will look for a configuration file in /etc/dcm/main.conf. You can over-ride this file location using the DCM_CONF_FILE environment variable or with the -c switch when starting DCM.

The headings below explain the structure and main sections of the configuration file (see also samples/config/config.sample).

File Structure

The configuration file is composed of sections, each containing keys and values. For example:

[section-name]
someKey=someValue
aDifferentKey=anotherValue

[anothersection]
...

The keys/values are case insensitive (i.e. Key=Value is the same as key=value). By convention lower case is used.

Expected Sections

The following sections, along with key/value definitions, are likely to be present in most configuration files.

[gstreamer]

Key Description Default
muxer Muxer used to create the gstreamer pipeline. rtpjpegpay
encoder Encoder used to create the gstreamer pipeline. jpegenc
converter Converter used to create the gstreamer pipeline. videoconvert

Example:

[gstreamer]
muxer=rtph264pay
encoder=x264enc
converter=autovideoconvert

The settings above select gstreamer plugins that are compatible with QGroundControl.

[v4l2]

Key Description Default
blacklist Comma separated list of /dev/video devices that should not be exported (for RTSP or MAVLink). For example, if the video streams from cameras /dev/video123 and /dev/video456 could not be exported you would set: blacklist = video123,video456.

Example (Aero):

[v4l2]
blacklist=video0,video1,video3,video4,video5,video6,video7,video8,video9,video10,video11,video12

V4L2 creates multiple device "nodes" for each camera device (these are suitable for different purposes). The blacklist key is used to ignore additional nodes, so that DCM only creates a single interface for each camera.

Key Description Default
port MAVLink destination UDP port. 14550
broadcast_addr Broadcast address to send MAVLink heartbeat messages. 255.255.255.255
rtsp_server_addr IP address or hostname of the interface where the RTSP server is running. This is the address that will be used by the client to make the RTSP request. 0.0.0.0
system_id System ID of the DCM to be used in MAVLink communications. This should typically match the ID of the connected autopilot (i.e. the DCM/connected cameras are considered MAVLink components of the autopilot system). If this key is not defined then DCM will use 1 until it is able to read a value from an autopilot heartbeat. 1

Example (for Ubuntu):

[mavlink]
port=14550
broadcast_addr=127.0.0.255
rtsp_server_addr=127.0.0.1
system_id=1

There is no component-id key because component IDs are auto-allocated by DCM. If more than 6 cameras are added (5 when using Gazebo) the additional cameras will not be addressable, and DCM will log an error.

[uri]

Key Description Default
<camera-device-id> URI for the Camera Definition File of the camera device <camera-device-id> -

DCM needs to be able to supply URI locations of Camera Definition Files for attached cameras. DCM determines the URI for each camera using the mappings in this section.

Example (Gazebo): 

[uri]
gazebo=http://127.0.0.1:8000/camera-def-gazebo.xml

Example (Aero):

[uri]
video13=http://192.168.8.1:8000/camera-def-rs-rgb.xml

Example (Ubuntu):

[uri]
video0=http://127.0.0.1:8000/camera-def-uvc.xml

[imgcap]

This section defines the default values used for image capture. With the exception of location it should be possible override the values over MAVLink using parameters defined in the Camera Definition File.

At time of writing these default values cannot yet be overridden (see #161).

Key Description Default
width Width of the image to be captured in pixels. Full width of camera frame for sensor type (i.e 1080P - 1920, 720P - 1280, etc.)
height Height of the image to be captured in pixels. Full height of camera frame for sensor type (i.e 1080P - 1080, 720P - 720, etc).
format Image format (number).
Possible values:
  • 2 (Jpeg/IMAGE_FILE_JPEG)
Notes:		 2 (JPEG).
location The local path with write permission where captured images will be saved (usually the system-standard "Temp" directory). The path should be accessible and writable. /tmp/

Example (Ubuntu):

[imgcap]
width=640
height=480
format=2
location=/tmp/

[vidcap]

This section defines the default values used for video capture (not video streaming). With the exception of location it should be possible override the values over MAVLink using parameters defined in the Camera Definition File.

At time of writing these default values cannot yet be overridden (see #161).

Key Description Default
width Width of the video to be captured in pixels. Full width of camera frame for sensor type (i.e 1080P - 1920, 720P - 1280, etc).
height Height of the video to be captured in pixels. Full height of camera frame for sensor type (i.e 1080P - 1080, 720P - 720, etc).
framerate Camera framerate for video capture. Default framerate queried from camera sensor (e.g. 25).
bitrate Bitrate of the encoded video data in KBps. Supported values: 1 - 2048000. 512
encoder Encoder (number).
Possible values:
  • 3 (H.264/VIDEO_CODING_AVC)
Notes:		 3 (AVC).
format Video file format (number).
Possible values:
  • 1 (Moving Pictures Expert Group 4/VIDEO_FILE_MP4)
Notes:		 1 (MP4)
location The local path with write permission where captured videos will be saved (usually the system-standard "Temp" directory). -

Example (Ubuntu):

[vidcap]
width=640
height=480
framerate=25
bitrate=1000
encoder=3
format=1
location=/tmp/

[gazebo]

Key Description Default
camtopic Gazebo topic where camera images are published. -

Example:

[gazebo]
camtopic=~/typhoon_h480/cgo3_camera_link/camera/image
© Dronecode 2017. License: CC BY 4.0            Updated: 2018-11-20 02:48:35

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