Hardware configuration

Cyclops requires a storage device, a camera, and a serial connection to the flight controller.

UART Serial Setup

Your device needs a serial connection to communicate with the flight controller using MAVLink. There are many ways to set this up. You can find docs on the manufacturer's website for your specific hardware setup.

For some computers such as the NanoPi R6C, you can buy a serial hat for UART connections. In the case of the Pi 5, you can read their docs on configuring a serial port, or use our script below for easy setup.

Manual setup of MAVLink serial

UART0 is used for the MAVLink serial connection between the Pi 5 and the flight controller at 921600 baud.

Pinout: (Pi 5 pinout diagram)

Function	GPIO	Header Pin	Connects To
TX	14	Pin 8	FC RX
RX	15	Pin 10	FC TX
GND	—	Any GND	FC GND

Both the Pi 5 and flight controller operate at 3.3V logic. No level shifting required.

Pi 5 UART naming

On Pi 5, GPIO 14/15 are driven by a PL011 UART in the RP1 southbridge, which shows up at MMIO 0x1f00030000. The device node it enumerates to depends on the OS image:

• Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop (Pi 5): /dev/ttyAMA0 (with a /dev/serial0 symlink in some releases)

• Ubuntu 24.04 Server (recommended for 2GB Pi 5): /dev/ttyAMA0, no /dev/serial0 symlink

• A second node /dev/ttyAMA10 (at 0x107d001000) will also appear — this is an internal SoC UART, not GPIO 14/15. Ignore it.

To confirm which node is GPIO 14/15, check dmesg:

sudo dmesg | grep -iE 'pl011|107d001|1f00030'

The line containing 1f00030000.serial identifies the GPIO header UART (typically ttyAMA0).

Setup:

1. Disable the serial console if active (Desktop images sometimes enable this; Server typically does not):

    sudo systemctl disable [e-mail]
    sudo systemctl stop [e-mail]

1. Remove console=ttyAMA0,115200 or console=serial0,115200 from /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt if present:

    sudo nano /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt

The file should be a single line. Remove only the `console=ttyAMA0,...` or `console=serial0,...` token (leave everything else intact). Save with `Ctrl+O`, Enter, `Ctrl+X`.

3. Edit /boot/firmware/config.txt. Under the [all] section, ensure the following are set:

    sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

    enable_uart=1
    dtoverlay=uart0-pi5

Note: on Ubuntu for Pi 5, `enable_uart=1` alone is **not** sufficient — the `uart0-pi5` overlay is required to instantiate the PL011 on GPIO 14/15.

4. Reboot. UART is available at /dev/ttyAMA0.

Verification:

Connect the Pi to the flight controller and ensure the corresponding serial port is configured to output MAVLink2 at 921600 baud. Then:

sudo stty -F /dev/ttyAMA0 921600 raw -echo
sudo cat /dev/ttyAMA0 | head -c 200 | xxd

You should see binary output with recurring fd bytes (MAVLink2 start byte) followed by a length byte and incrementing sequence numbers. Example:

00000000: fd1c 0000 d901 0121 0000 4704 1200 5d2c  .......!..G...],
00000010: 0000 18ae 0000 6a04 0000 6904 0000 0000  ......j...i.....

This confirms MAVLink data is flowing and the serial link is working. Ctrl+C to stop.

Troubleshooting:

• cat: /dev/ttyAMA0: No such file or directory → uart0-pi5 overlay not loaded. Verify config.txt and reboot.

• Only /dev/ttyAMA10 exists → same cause; the GPIO UART hasn't been instantiated.

• No 0x1f00030000.serial line in dmesg → overlay didn't apply; check for typos in config.txt.

• Data flowing but garbled even at correct baud → check TX/RX aren't swapped, and confirm FC is set to MAVLink2 (not MAVLink1, which starts with fe).

MAVLink over UDP/TCP

Cyclops has migrated from MAVProxy to MAVLink Router. vns-config commands still say mavproxy, but the service running is mavlink-router.service

For Cyclops v1.20.0 and later, MAVLink connection to the flight controller over UDP/TCP is supported. The CLI tool vns-config on the edge device is the only way to configure an IP MAVLink connection.

On the edge device

vns-config add mavproxy.device <mavproxy-endpoint>

Do not provide a baudrate for UDP or TCP endpoints. Supported endpoint settings:

Endpoint	Use
udpin:HOST:PORT	Listen for UDP (FC sends to Cyclops computer)
udpout:HOST:PORT or udp:HOST:PORT	Send UDP to that address
tcp:HOST:PORT or tcpout:HOST:PORT	Connect as a TCP client

tcpin is not supported

When you add an endpoint that already exists, vns-config updates that entry. Adding an existing network endpoint without a baudrate clears any baudrate from that endpoint.

After changing endpoints, restart the MAVLink Router service and verify the active configuration:

sudo systemctl restart mavlink-router.service
vns-config list mavproxy.devices
journalctl -u mavlink-router.service -f

Example: UDP MAVLink from a Flight Controller

Configure the Pi to listen for MAVLink on UDP port 14550:

vns-config add mavproxy.device udpin:0.0.0.0:14550
sudo systemctl restart mavlink-router.service

Point the flight controller or network sender at the Pi's IP address on port 14550.

Example: TCP MAVLink Server

Configure MAVLink Router to connect to a TCP MAVLink server at 192.168.1.10:5760:

vns-config add mavproxy.device tcp:192.168.1.10:5760
sudo systemctl restart mavlink-router.service

Example: Replace Serial with Ethernet

Remove the default serial ports and add a UDP network endpoint:

vns-config remove mavproxy.device /dev/ttyS4
vns-config remove mavproxy.device /dev/ttyS5
vns-config add mavproxy.device udpin:0.0.0.0:14550
sudo systemctl restart mavlink-router.service

Enable USB Port Full Power

When powering the Pi 5 via the GPIO header (pins 2/4 for 5V, bypassing the USB-C PMIC), USB ports default to a 600mA total current budget. Override this to provide full power to USB peripherals.

Edit /boot/firmware/config.txt:

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

Add this line under the [all] section:

usb_max_current_enable=1

Save with Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X. Reboot to apply:

sudo reboot

This raises the total USB port current budget to 1.6A.

Recap

We have now set up all of our hardware. Your addresses may vary, but we have:

Recording drive at /mnt/t9
Serial connections at /dev/ttySC0 and /dev/ttySC1
Video device at /dev/video0