Build
The reference build runs Canary Ground Control on a Raspberry Pi 4B mounted on a Holybro S500 V2 quadcopter, with the Pi wired to the flight controller over USB and online through a 4G modem on a public-IP SIM.
| Part | Model | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Companion computer | Raspberry Pi 4B | Runs the app and holds the link to the flight controller. |
| Airframe kit | Holybro S500 V2 Development Kit | 500mm quad: Pixhawk 6C flight controller, PM02 V3 power module, M10 GPS, SiK Telemetry Radio V3, 2216 920KV motors, BLHeli S 20A ESCs, 1045 props, ~915g. |
| Battery | 4S 3000-5000mAh LiPo (XT60) | Powers the airframe and, through the PM02, the Pi. |
| Camera | Arducam OV5647 5MP 1080P day/night | CSI camera on the Pi with automatic IR-cut for day and low-light video. |
| Modem | Raspberry Pi 4G/LTE cellular modem kit | Puts the Pi on the cellular network. |
| SIM | Simbase public-IP SIM | Gives the Pi a publicly reachable address. |
| FC link | USB-A to USB-C cable | Connects the Pi to the Pixhawk 6C USB-C port. |
The Pixhawk 6C plugs into the Pi over the USB-A to USB-C cable and enumerates as
/dev/ttyACM0, a USB serial device carrying MAVLink. The production compose
service maps that device into the app container, so the station talks to the
autopilot with no extra radio.
The Arducam sits on the Pi's CSI port and feeds the WebRTC live feed through MediaMTX. See Configuration for the camera-source options.
Alongside the Pixhawk, the station connects to a Betaflight flight-controller
stack, an HGLRC XJB F428. A Betaflight board speaks the MultiWii Serial
Protocol (MSP) rather than MAVLink, so the app reaches it through
MSP_SERIAL_PATH for telemetry and for firmware detection and flashing. See
Firmware for flashing and board autodetect and Configuration for the
MSP link.
Most cellular carriers place a subscriber behind carrier-grade NAT (CG-NAT): the SIM shares one public address with many others and the carrier drops inbound connections, so a browser cannot open a session to the Pi. A public-IP SIM, such as the one from Simbase, assigns the Pi its own reachable address. With it, the station is a plain web page the operator opens from any browser over the cellular link, with no VPN or relay in between.