rsp2k
e9b0c264c5
The simulator can now stream video, so a client's whole decode path can be developed without an aircraft: an RFC 6184 packetiser for Annex-B H.264, a capture/replay format for real drone RTP, and both wired into the sim behind VideoEnable. Proved by decoding rather than by assertion: ffmpeg reads the simulated stream at 856x480 and 30 fps, including a join two seconds in at a random mid-GOP offset, which is the case a goggle viewer actually faces. The simulated stream is RFC-correct but shaped differently from the aircraft's, which wraps far more NALs in STAP-A than repeating parameter sets explains. A client tested only against the synthetic path is tested against the wrong shape; that is what the replay path is for.
mcbebop
An MCP server for the Parrot Bebop 2, so an agent can talk to the drone without anyone writing code for each question.
Parrot abandoned the Bebop line, but the aircraft is still a capable, cheap platform and its protocol is fully described by Parrot's own XML, which this package vendors. Every one of the 264 commands is reachable; nothing is hand-wrapped.
Status: in development. Not flight-tested. See the safety section.
What it talks to
| Interface | Notes |
|---|---|
| ARSDK3 over UDP | commands and telemetry; this package implements the protocol directly |
| ARStream2 | live H.264 video. The Bebop 2 serves no RTSP, despite what older libraries assume |
| FTP | media, flight plans, blackbox logs |
| Telnet | read-only shell, only after the drone's debug mode is enabled |
Safety
Commands are classified by consequence. Observing and configuring are open;
anything that can spin a motor or change the flight envelope refuses until
arm() is called with a reason, and re-locks on a timer and on disconnect.
Landing and Emergency are deliberately never locked, because refusing to
land an airborne aircraft is the more dangerous answer.
connect(target="sim") runs everything against a protocol-accurate simulator,
which is where anything involving motion should be rehearsed.
The simulator streams video
The simulator can push RTP/H.264 exactly as the aircraft does, so a viewer's
whole video path can be developed and measured without a drone. It answers the
handshake with arstream2_server_stream_port: 5004, sends nothing until
ardrone3.MediaStreaming.VideoEnable arrives with 1, then streams from its own
5004 to whatever arstream2_client_stream_port the client named, and stops on a
0, on a link loss, or at shutdown.
python -m mcbebop.sim --video clip.h264 # steady 30 fps
python -m mcbebop.sim --video clip.h264 --start-offset random --seed 7
python -m mcbebop.sim --video flight.rtpcap # a real capture, replayed
MCBEBOP_SIM_VIDEO_SOURCE=clip.h264 does the same for connect(target="sim").
Two kinds of source, and they are different instruments:
| Source | Pacing | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
.h264 Annex-B elementary stream |
packetised here, steady frame rate | does the decoder work, does the renderer work |
.rtpcap capture off the aircraft |
the recorded inter-packet gaps, packet for packet | latency and jitter, bursts, loss behaviour |
Make the first from any video, at the resolution the aircraft streams:
ffmpeg -i anything.mp4 -t 10 -vf scale=856:480 -r 30 \
-c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 30 -f h264 clip.h264
-f h264 already writes Annex-B, so no bitstream filter is wanted;
h264_mp4toannexb converts the other direction and ffmpeg rejects it here.
Make the second from a real drone. Start the recorder first, because RTP is connectionless and anything sent before the bind is gone, then enable video from a session that holds the ARSDK link:
python -m mcbebop.media.capture flight.rtpcap --seconds 30 # binds 55004
--start-offset random is worth knowing about. It begins mid-GOP, which is
what a viewer switched on while the drone is already flying is handed, and
--seed makes a failure repeatable. Parameter sets repeat about once a second
on the packetised path, which is what lets a late joiner recover at all.
Install
uvx mcbebop
claude mcp add mcbebop -- uvx mcbebop
Credits
arsdk-xml/ is Parrot SA's own protocol definition, BSD-3-Clause. See
arsdk-xml/PROVENANCE.md.