Connecting drone to QGroundControl in Parallels Desktop for Mac

QGroundControl Using QGroundControl
1

Hi All,

I’m very new to everything drone related, so my apologies in advance if my terminology is off. After trying all day, I still cannot get QGroundControl to recognize a Pixhawk/Rpi drone over a private WiFi network (router connected directly to my laptop via ethernet). Despite manually configuring comm links and disabling all firewalls, the “Waiting for Vehicle Connection” error message is constantly displayed. I am currently running QGroundControl in Windows 10 via Parallels Desktop 15 on a 2019 MacBook Pro. There are seemingly no issues when the drone is connected to my computer via USB. My best guess is that the ethernet port of the adapter I am using with my computer is not recognized by Parallels by default. Any suggestions you may have to get this thing to run would be appreciated!

2

Hi there!

Why are you using QGroundControl in parallels? You can just use QGroundControl natively on your mac.

3

Hi Julian,

Good point. I’m now running QGC natively on my mac and noticed that I am unable to update the firmware for the pixhawk as I have it connected to my computer through an unpowered USB hub. Would updating my firmware fix this issue?

4

Updating is always a good idea. And hubs can sometimes be problematic but could also work, it depends.

5

After changing the USB adapter I was using, I was able to update the firmware, but there is still a persistent “Waiting for Vehicle Connection” error message in QGC. I’m able to successfully ping the drone from my terminal, however, so I am unsure of how to proceed.

6

Odd. What version did you flash? Which Pixhawk hardware are you using?

7

I flashed PX4 Pro v1.10.1 onto a Pixhawk 1 controller.

8

Ok, so that should all be fine. And when you start the Pixhawk what is the status of the LEDs? And do you have an SD card inserted? And where have you bought the Pixhawk from?

9

When powered on, the FMU and IO PWR LEDs are solid green, and the IO ACT LED is blinking blue.

I have a 32GB microSD card inserted in the Rpi.

The drone is an OTUS Quadcopter purchased from RCBenchmark, so it was preassembled. I should note that I have it on loan from the group I am working with, and the drone worked without issue on a windows based desktop previously.