node-red-contrib-mavlink-aigen

A comprehensive Node-RED MAVLink driver with dynamic dialect support, serial/UDP/TCP communication, and intelligent message building.

🤖 100% AI-Generated: This entire package—code, documentation, and 15 example flows—was created entirely by Claude AI.

🧪 Testing Status

Initial testing looks promising! This package has been validated against ArduPilot's sim_vehicle simulator and is responding correctly to MAVLink traffic. The protocol implementation appears solid, but we'd love more real-world validation since the meat-based idea human can't find his Navio2.

Real hardware testing wanted:

Neither the author (Claude AI) nor the meat-based idea human currently have physical hardware for comprehensive flight testing. If you're running ArduPilot or PX4 on real vehicles, your feedback would be invaluable:

• ✈️ Real-world flight testing with physical vehicles
• 🐛 Bug reports from actual missions
• 📝 Success stories and use cases
• 🔧 Pull requests for improvements

The code follows MAVLink specifications closely and handles sim_vehicle well—it should work with real hardware, but confirmation from the field would help everyone. If you test this on real hardware, please open an issue and let us know how it performs!

Features

• Full MAVLink Protocol Support: v1.0 and v2.0
• Multiple Connection Types: Serial, UDP, and TCP
• Dynamic Dialect Management: Auto-downloads all official MAVLink dialects
• Complete Dialect Support: Send and receive messages from any dialect (common, ardupilotmega, storm32, etc.)
• Intelligent Message Builder: Dynamic UI based on selected message type
• Three Operating Modes: Static send, dynamic send, and incoming message parsing
• Enum Support: Dropdowns for all enum fields with descriptions
• Auto-HEARTBEAT: Automatic heartbeat generation (MAVLink protocol compliant)
• No Wired Connections: Nodes communicate via internal message bus
• XML Versioning: Keeps historical versions of dialect definitions

Nodes

mavlink-mission

NEW in v1.2.0 - Automated mission upload/clear with full protocol handling.

The mission manager node handles the complex MAVLink mission upload protocol automatically. Just send waypoint arrays, it handles the rest.

Features:

• Upload waypoint missions with simple {lat, lon, alt} format
• Clear missions from vehicle
• Auto-detects MISSION_REQUEST vs MISSION_REQUEST_INT (modern autopilots)
• Full state machine handles MISSION_COUNT → MISSION_REQUEST → MISSION_ITEM sequence
• Timeout protection (configurable, default 10s)
• Multi-vehicle support (set target system ID)
• Status feedback on output 2

Usage:

// Simple mission
msg.topic = "upload_mission";
msg.payload = {
  waypoints: [
    { lat: 37.7749, lon: -122.4194, alt: 100 },
    { lat: 37.7750, lon: -122.4195, alt: 100 },
    { lat: 37.7751, lon: -122.4196, alt: 50 }
  ]
};

// Advanced mission with commands
msg.topic = "upload_mission";
msg.payload = {
  waypoints: [
    {
      lat: 37.7749, lon: -122.4194, alt: 50,
      command: 22,    // NAV_TAKEOFF
      param1: 15      // Pitch angle
    },
    {
      lat: 37.7750, lon: -122.4195, alt: 100,
      command: 16,    // NAV_WAYPOINT (default)
      param1: 5,      // Hold time (seconds)
      param2: 10      // Acceptance radius (meters)
    },
    {
      lat: 37.7751, lon: -122.4196, alt: 0,
      command: 21     // NAV_LAND
    }
  ]
};

Common Commands:

• 16 - NAV_WAYPOINT (fly to location)
• 22 - NAV_TAKEOFF (takeoff to altitude)
• 21 - NAV_LAND (land at location)
• 20 - NAV_RETURN_TO_LAUNCH (RTL)
• 17 - NAV_LOITER_UNLIM (loiter indefinitely)
• 19 - NAV_LOITER_TIME (loiter for time in param1)

Outputs:

• Output 1: MAVLink commands (connect to mavlink-msg node)
• Output 2: Status messages ({success: true/false, message: "..."})

Critical Wiring:

• Mission Manager output 1 → mavlink-msg input
• mavlink-comms output → Mission Manager input (feedback loop!)

See examples/advanced/mission-manager-example.json for complete flow.

mavlink-comms

The communication node handles all I/O operations and dialect management.

Features:

• Downloads MAVLink XML definitions from ArduPilot repository
• Supports UDP, TCP, and Serial connections
• Automatically manages heartbeat
• Parses incoming MAVLink messages
• Outputs parsed messages as JSON
• Listens for outgoing messages from mavlink-msg nodes

Connection Types:

• UDP: Typical for SITL and ground station connections (default port 14550)
• TCP: For TCP-based telemetry links
• Serial: For direct serial connections (USB, UART)

Dialects: Click "Update XMLs" to download all available dialects:

• common.xml - Basic MAVLink messages
• ardupilotmega.xml - ArduPilot-specific messages
• minimal.xml - Minimal message set
• And many more...

Output:

{
  "payload": {
    "name": "HEARTBEAT",
    "type": 0,
    "systemId": 1,
    "componentId": 1,
    ...
  },
  "topic": "HEARTBEAT"
}

mavlink-msg

A bidirectional message builder that can send commands and parse incoming telemetry.

Three Operating Modes:

1. Static Send (Message selected from dropdown)

Configure a specific message type (e.g., COMMAND_LONG) and set field values in the UI.

[Inject] → [mavlink-msg: COMMAND_LONG] → comms → drone

2. Dynamic Send (Message = "None")

Build messages dynamically from your flow:

msg.payload = {
  messageType: "COMMAND_LONG",
  command: 400,  // MAV_CMD_COMPONENT_ARM_DISARM
  param1: 1,     // 1=arm, 0=disarm
  param2: 0
};
return msg;

[Function] → [mavlink-msg: None] → comms → drone

3. Parse Incoming (Auto-detect from comms)

Automatically parses and passes through telemetry messages:

[mavlink-comms] → [mavlink-msg] → [Debug GPS data]
                   ↑ Auto-detects GPS_RAW_INT, SYS_STATUS, etc.

Features:

• Dynamic form generation based on message fields
• Enum fields show as dropdowns with descriptions
• Support for all MAVLink field types (int, float, arrays, strings)
• Works with any dialect (common, ardupilotmega, etc.)

Installation

From Local Directory

cd ~/.node-red
npm install node-red-contrib-mavlink-aigen
node-red-restart

From Source

cd ~/.node-red
git clone https://github.com/cmc0619/node-red-contrib-mavlink-aigen.git
npm install ./node-red-contrib-mavlink-aigen
node-red-restart

Quick Start

1. Add mavlink-comms node

   • Configure connection (UDP/TCP/Serial)
   • Click "Update XMLs" to download dialects
   • Select dialect (e.g., "common" or "ardupilotmega")
   • Deploy

2. Add mavlink-msg node

   • Select same dialect as mavlink-comms
   • Choose message type (e.g., "COMMAND_LONG")
   • Fill in required fields
   • Connect an inject node to trigger

3. Add debug nodes

   • Connect to mavlink-comms output to see incoming messages
   • Connect to mavlink-msg output to see outgoing messages

Example Flow

[Inject] → [mavlink-msg: COMMAND_LONG] → [Debug]
                                ↓ (internal bus)
[mavlink-comms: UDP] → [Debug]

No wired connection needed between mavlink-msg and mavlink-comms!

Architecture

Internal Message Bus

Nodes communicate via Node-RED flow context:

• Outgoing: mavlink-msg writes to flow.mavlink_outgoing
• Incoming: mavlink-comms writes to flow.mavlink_last_received

This allows multiple mavlink-msg nodes to share a single mavlink-comms connection without wiring.

Dialect Storage

XMLs are stored in ~/.node-red/mavlink-xmls/:

• common.xml - Latest version (symlink)
• common_20250101.xml - Versioned copy
• Delete old versions via "Manage XMLs" button

Supported Dialects

All dialects are fully supported for both sending and receiving:

• minimal - Minimal MAVLink message set
• common - Standard MAVLink messages (COMMAND_LONG, SET_MODE, etc.)
• ardupilotmega - ArduPilot-specific messages (gimbal, camera, fence, rally points)
• uavionix - uAvionix ADS-B messages
• icarous - NASA ICAROUS messages
• asluav - ASLUAV fixed-wing UAV messages
• development - Development/experimental messages
• ualberta - University of Alberta messages
• storm32 - STorM32 gimbal controller messages

Simply select your dialect in the node configuration - both parsing (receiving) and encoding (sending) will use the correct message definitions automatically.

Dependencies

• node-mavlink - MAVLink protocol implementation
• serialport - Serial communication
• xml2js - XML parsing

License

MIT

Contributing

Pull requests welcome! Please ensure:

• Code follows existing style
• Test with real MAVLink devices/SITL
• Update README for new features

Support

• Issues: https://github.com/cmc0619/node-red-contrib-mavlink-aigen/issues
• MAVLink Protocol: https://mavlink.io/
• ArduPilot: https://ardupilot.org/