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How to connect Multiple Vehicles in Mission Planner?

If you’re planning to perform swarm operations with multiple drones, then it’s necessary to connect multiple drones on the Ground Control Station (GCS). In that case, I mostly prefer Mission Planner for connecting multiple vehicles because of its modest interface.

Four drones connected in Mission Planner Multiple Vehicles Connected to Mission Planner

You can able to connect n number of devices to Mission Planner, but that n is purely based on your computer’s configuration.

Connecting a Vehicle in Mission Planner

For connecting a vehicle to Mission Planner, click on the CONNECT button present on the top right corner of the window. Before clicking the CONNECT button, don’t forget to select the telemetry connection type (i.e., TCP, UDP, Serial) from the connection drop-down box.

Connect Button - Mission Planner Connect Button - Mission Planner

A dialog box will open once after clicking on the CONNECT button, where you can enter the port number for establishing the mavlink connection between the vehicle and the system.

Listern Port (Dialog Box) - Mission Planner Listern Port (Dialog Box) - Mission Planner

After clicking the OK button on the dialog box, the intended vehicle will be connected to the Mission Planner.

A Vehicle connected to Mission Planner A Vehicle connected to Mission Planner

Connecting Multiple Vehicles in Mission Planner

Using the above method, you can connect a single vehicle with ease. But, for connecting multiple drones, right-click on the top bar of Mission Planner and select the Connection Options.

Connection Options - Mission Planner Connection Options - Mission Planner

The above action will lead to the opening of the Connection Options dialog box. In that dialog, select the necessary telemetry connection type and click on Connect button.

Connection Options (Dialog Box) - Mission Planner Connection Options (Dialog Box) - Mission Planner

A dialog box will open once after clicking on the CONNECT button, where you can enter the port number for establishing the mavlink connection between the vehicle and the system.

Listern Port (Dialog Box) - Mission Planner Listern Port (Dialog Box) - Mission Planner

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After clicking the OK button on the dialog box, the second vehicle will be connected to the Mission Planner.

Two Vehicles connected to Mission Planner Two Vehicles connected to Mission Planner

Voila, you’ve successfully connected two vehicles in the Mission Planner. Also, you can follow these same steps to connect multiple devices in the Mission Planner without a mess.

Four Vehicles connected to Mission Planner Four Vehicles connected to Mission Planner

Basic Swarming using Mission Planner

The reason for connecting multiple vehicles to a Ground Control Station is mainly for performing swarm operations. The Mission Planner has native support for performing swarm operations but, it’ll be present in Advanced Options.

The reason for connecting multiple vehicles to a Ground Control Station is mainly for performing swarm operations. The Mission Planner has native support for performing swarm operations but, it’ll be present in Advanced Options. You can open the Advanced Options window by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F.

Advanced Options - Mission Planner Advanced Options - Mission Planner

In the temp window, there’ll be a list of buttons, in which click on the Swarm button to perform the swarm operations, which lead to the opening of the Control window.

Swarm Control - Mission Planner Swarm Control - Mission Planner

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In the Control window, you can perform some of the following swarm operations with multiple vehicles:

  • Arming and Disarming Motors
  • Changing the mode of all the Vehicles to Guided
  • Take-off and Landing Operations
  • Setting the Leader Vehicle (Leader-Follower Swarm Architecture), etc

Controlling Four Vehicles - Mission Planner Controlling Four Vehicles - Mission Planner

You can also control the required vehicle individually by selecting the connection to the vehicle from the connection list drop-down present in the top right side corner of the Mission Planner main window.

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve tried to explain how to connect multiple vehicles in Mission Planner. I’m expectantly waiting for your valuable feedback and suggestions regarding this topic.

At last, Sharing is Caring, feel free to share with your friends if you’ve liked this article. Thank you!

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This post is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 by the author.

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Dhulkarnayn - Elucidate Drones

Dhulkarnayn

I am 25 years old drone developer, holds a postgraduate degree in Avionics. I've worked on a few complex projects like drone swarms, drone light shows, autonomous landing of drones using computer-vision algorithms, etc. Since childhood, I'm much passionate about electronics, aerospace & engineering.

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Comments

Author Dhulkarnayn May 18th, 2023 21:24

Raj, For this article, I’ve captured the details from the simulation. But, In real time, I’m using the WiFi antenna connected to the companion computer on-board and connecting to the ground using WiFi/WLAN (UDP).


Hi Dhulkarnayn

It is very enriching to read your blog.

One question I have for the following write out, what is the connection you have used between the PC (Mission planner) and the leader drone and the slave drones? am I correct that you have mounted a companion computer (e.g. Pi, Jetson Nano) onboard each of the drones? All drones including the leader drone are wifi connected (UDP), am I correct? https://www.elucidatedrones.com/posts/how-to-connect-multiple-vehicles-in-mission-planner/

Or it is via simulation mode for an explanation?

I look forward to your reply to unlock my misunderstandings.

Author Dhulkarnayn April 12th, 2023 12:31

Jai, I’m pleased you found this article helpful. For this article, all the images are from the simulation to explain better. But still, there is no difference if we’re trying master and slave architecture. As you mentioned, the only difference will be the usage of any of the companion computers on board to transmit and receive the Mavlink signals.


Author Dhulkarnayn February 2th, 2023 19:30

Sure, Jacob. Kindly requesting you to send the screenshots to the following email, I’ll fix them as soon as possible: admin@elucidatedrones.com


UltraDronASR June 20th, 2022 00:56

hey, i’m trying to simulate multiple drones, and from what i see from the background, that is what you did, so how did you do that? also the other drones don’t seem to apear in the swarm window you made a screenshot of, so how do you make them appear there, the button to connect mav from the documentation is not there in this version

Author Dhulkarnayn June 24th, 2022 08:08

UltraDronASR, I simulated four vehicles from another device and only used the swarm window to perform takeoff and landing as an example for this case!


Author Dhulkarnayn November 14th, 2021 19:17

No, Tammie, I didn’t post any advertisements on that site. Sorry, I came to know about that site only after your comment.