AR.Assist Infrastructure Wi-Fi Enabling Your AR.Drone Made Easy

12. February 2011 Admin AR.Pro Comments (36)

AR.Assist is an extremely easy to use Windows Wizard that steps you through the process of temporarily Infrastructure Wi-Fi enabling your AR.Drone.  You can use AR.Assist on demand to configure your AR.Drone for Infrastructure mode on an as needed basis, or you can use AR.Assist as a jumpstart to apply the AR.Pro Infrastructure Patch to your drone.

There is also a manual installation procedure available here for those having problems with AR.Assist or wishing to do the work themselves.

STEP 1 -- Review all instructions and prepare for the procedure

STEP 2 - Scan for and Select the Infrastructure WAP/Hotspot you wish to connect your drone to

STEP 3 - Power up your AR.Drone, scan for, and select its adhoc network

STEP 4 - Associate your drone to the Infrastructure WAP/Hotspot previously selected

STEP 5 - Review changes, open your favorite AR.Drone client and go fly!

 

STEP 6 - OPTIONAL - Making your changes permanent in AR.Pro

ADVISORY:  WHILE NOT REQUIRED IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU BE ON FIRMWARE 1.4.7 OR 1.5.1 PRIOR TO INFRASTRUCTURE PATCHING YOUR DRONE.  

THERE HAVE ALSO BEEN A HANDFUL OF REPORTS ABOUT AR.PRO REFUSING TO JOIN AN INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK AUTOMATICALLY AFTER APPLYING THE PATCH.  TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM, FOLLOW THE PROCEDURE ABOVE TO CONNECT TO YOUR DRONE, OPEN AR.PRO, CONNECT, GO INTO PREFERENCES, UNINSTALL THE PATCH, AND IMMEDIATELY RE-INSTALL IT (WIHOUT EXITING PREFERENCES OR REBOOTING YOUR DRONE).

 

  • Launch AR.Pro for Android
  • Tap Menu and go into Preferences
  • Scroll down to Network Settings
  • Specify the IP Address provided by AR.Assist 
  • Exit Preferences
  • Tap Menu, and Connect to your AR.Drone  If you are unable to connect it is likely something went wrong within the AR.Assist procedure -- Start over at step 1.
  • Tap Menu, and go back into Preferences

 

  • Tap Patch status, accept responsibility for any unforeseen problems that may result from applying the patch***
  • Now that the patch is applied Enable "Infrastructure Mode" 
  • Select "Drone IP Address" and rekey the IP Address provided by AR.Assist
  • Select SSID (not SSID Auto Connect) and provide the SSiD provided by AR.Assist
  • Exit out of Preferences
  • Close AR.Pro
  • Reboot your AR.Drone
  • Reopen AR.Pro
  • Go fly!

If you have any questions or run into any problems feel free to contact the author using the Contact link at the top of this page.

You may download AR.Assist HERE after reading and accepting the below ***DISCLAIMER***

*** Shell Shrader, DBA Shellware cannot and will not take any legal responsibility for any changes that you apply to your AR.Drone.  You do so at your own risk.  While every attempt has been made to make this a perfect solution, there is always a risk associated with configuration changes of this nature and we cannot assume any such liability.  Additionally, making modifications of this nature to your AR.Drone could render your warranty with Parrot null and void.  You've been warned.  

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Comments (36) -

Sergi 2/17/2011 6:33:27 PM

Hi,
The AR.Assist only contains one file with no extension. No EXE or MSI appears, only one file called AR.Assist.

Any idea? could you fix that?

Thanks!

Reply
Shell Shrader 2/17/2011 8:47:57 PM

Download link has been updated to utilize a click once manifest.  I'll likely have an update out this evening and the manifest should detect a new version automatically.

Reply
Sergi 2/18/2011 4:19:53 AM

Hi,

Thanks for quick reply! im gonna test it in a few hours when i get out of office. Meantime, i would ask you for STEP 6 - OPTIONAL - Making your changes permanent in AR.Pro.

I understand that its posible to change temporaly the adhoc conection to AP conection on drone, but when you restart it, drone miss this config to original adhoc mode, it is?



There is any way to keep it? why patch status is not available for me and cant i use the infrastructure pach?

I really make a huge research on internet and as you know, there is no adhoc support for android from google....and its seems to be no plan to update it...do you have any plan to create some app for android or and update of AR.Droid Pro to program Drone every time you start de app to avoid use any PC to do it?
it would be really good!

Thanks for the support!

Sergi

Reply
Shell Shrader 2/18/2011 10:13:47 AM

If you follow the optional steps in AR.Pro after performing a temporary association using AR.Assist those changes that you make will remain in effect until 1.) you change them in AR.Pro, 2.) Press the reset button on the underside of your AR.Drone, or 3.) uninstall the AR.Pro infrastructure patch.

I would recommend that you have firmware 1.4.7 as it is the most stable firmware I've tested with at this point.  However, I can confirm that the Patch works with 1.3.3 and 1.5.1.  BUT 1.3.3 and 1.5.1 have their share of bugs that make them unacceptable as usable ROMs imho.

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Sergi 2/21/2011 9:04:26 AM

Hi,

it works perfect! and as you told, I tryed v1.5.1 and certainly it has some bugs, as cant change camera view and not too flight stable..returned to 1.4.7 and works fine.

Other improve would be good is if you could add video recording on your app. its posible? or any way to do it?

thanks!

Reply
Shell Shrader 2/21/2011 10:24:57 AM

Working on video recording.  Had hoped to have it done this past weekend but I ran into a number of things completed unrelated to AR.* that I had to focus on this weekend.

Reply
Sergi 3/1/2011 10:47:25 AM

Hi Shell,

I hope you could get video recording soon!.

Some things i would like to explain:

- I noticed that there is some lag or delay on video transmition, so its hard to use drone as FPV. is there some way to improve that?
I  connected drone and my phone to an AP with dual 15 db omnidirectional antena to extend range. it works fine about range..but  delay/lag is really high and its imposible to use it.
I did some ping test and i get 1,6 ms using my mobile in AP mode, that is the only way to control with good delay response about controls but may be some much delay for FPV, and 3,5 ms with external AP with powered range, imposible to control due to delay.
Any way to improve? maybe improving encode video on drone firmware version or something?

- I try to change some parameters in Ar.Pro prefrences, like titl sensitivity and speed of accelerometer and when i change this value, it sets at 0 or max, and i cant return to default value, i have to reset drone to get default indoor or outdoor presets vaules, so i can only change it by select outdoors flight or not.

Thanks!

Sergi

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Sergi 2/21/2011 10:44:09 AM

ok nice to know it! good job keep it up!

Thanks.

Reply
Shawn 2/26/2011 10:58:35 PM

Hi,
I just bought an AR.Drone and went ahead and purchased AR.Pro (why mess around if it's the best/only one out there?).

Since I haven't yet enabled my Galaxy S (Froyo Cognition 3.04 ROM) to use ad hoc networks I am trying to use AR.Assist.

After installing AR.Assist, I proceeded to scan for wireless networks (Hotspot Ident.). After ~30 seconds, it detected both the drone and my D-Link router (security turned off). I tried to connect to the router but it did not proceed past the next step (association?) . I restarted the program and tried to detect wireless networks again but that time and everytime since it failed to detect any networks at all.

I've restarted the PC (laptop, using wireless to connect to the same router, Windows XP, 32-bit), uninstalled/reinstalled AR.Assist, but still no networks are detected. I've pushed the "Scan" button countless times but the "working" animation just keeps spinning.

I thought it might be the router but I've tried changing channels, limiting to G mode. It has restarted multiple times throughout this process. Just for kicks, I enable the hotspot on my Galaxy S (no security). My laptop picked it up right away, but when I tried to scan wit AR Assist, no dice.

Feel free to remove this post and respond by email. I wasn't sure whether to contact directly or just comment here.

Oh, I also wanted to thank you for taking on this project (AR.Drone -> Android). I've been waiting for months Smile

Thanks,
Shawn

Reply
Shell Shrader 2/26/2011 11:26:03 PM

Hi Shawn,

I'm going to guess that your problem is one of three things.  

You have more than one active network adapter connected to your computer.  Under XP, AR.Assist really likes to only see one network interface.  If you have a wired network attached, disconnect its network cable.  

Your XP installation does not have SP3 installed and/or you're not using XPs native wifi support.  The underlying library used by AR.Assist for wifi connectivity relies on the built-in Windows Wi-Fi stack.

While not always preferred under XP you'll need to turn over all wireless management to it for AR.Assist to work.

Windows Vista and 7 installations tend to use the Windows built-in Wi-Fi stack much more so than XP.  If you have access to a Vista or Windows 7 computer you'll likely have much better results.

You have another option, and that is to perform the procedure that AR.Assist automates manually.  

Since you have a Galaxy phone (I develop and support AR.Pro primarily with a Galaxy S GT-I9000 so I'm very familiar with it) and you've been able to connect to your phone's hotspot already, you're almost there!

Follow this procedure if you're tired of messing around with the Wizard:

1.  Change your Galaxy hotspot's ssid to AR_HOTSPOT

2.  Enable your Galaxy's hotspot, verify that you can see it as "AR_HOTSPOT" and you can connect to it from your XP computer.

3.  Disconnect your XP computer from your Galaxy's hotspot but leave the hotspot active/enabled.

4.  Turn on your AR.Drone.

5.  Connect to it from your XP computer (it's ssid will be ardrone_xxxxxx where xxxxx is the last 6 digits of its serial #)

6.  Open a Command Prompt (Start-->Run-->cmd)

7.  At the Command Prompt initiate a telnet session to the drone (c:\>telnet 192.168.1.1)

8.  Copy/Paste the following text directly into the telnet session.  Make sure it is an exact copy (no spaces)

iwconfig ath0 mode managed essid AR_HOTSPOT ; ifconfig ath0 192.168.43.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

9.  Your telnet session should now hang.  This is because your drone just connected to your Galaxy's hotspot.

10.  Open up AR.Pro, go into Preferences, and change the drone's IP address to 192.168.43.2

11.  Leave Preferences, select Menu again, and Connect.

12.  You should now be connected to your drone and can pick back up mid step 6 in the guide above.

If you decide to apply AR.Pro Infrastructure Patch, please be sure to follow the recommendations I outlined in the ADVISORY above.   Also,  be sure to retype the IP address for your drone while connected to it in AR.Pro (192.168.43.2 in your case).  This is necessary because the drone needs to be programmed to know what address it is supposed to use when it boots up with the patch applied.

Hope this helps and do not hesitate to contact me, either here, or via email should have any further questions, comments, concerns, etc.

Shell

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Shawn 2/27/2011 6:56:31 PM

Hi Shell,
Thanks a bunch for the workaround! I followed the steps and it worked perfectly!  
Now I just have to work on flying the thing Wink

FWIW, my problem with AR.Assist doesn't seem to be any of the reasons you suspected. I am running the standard Intel driver with Windows native management. I don't have another network adapter *connected* although the LAN is enabled (I tried to disable but it failed to do so saying the resources were being used - maybe that's a hint?). And finally, I am running SP3.

Anyway, thanks again for the quick reply! I'll post again at some point with any feedback, etc...

-Shawn

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Gustavo 3/9/2011 11:29:03 AM

Hi Shell:

I ran into a similar problem as Shawn above. However I don't have a Galaxy so I was using my Linksys N Router. I disabled all security and then AR.Assist can see it. However it always times out when trying to connect. I'm running Windows 7.  Any other ideas on what to try besides the manual telnet configuration ?

cheers
G

Reply
Shell Shrader 3/9/2011 9:13:20 PM

Hi G,

Does your phone have a WiFi Hotspot?  Most android phones do.  If not you still have options -- connecting to your Linksys router is certainly one of them.

Can your Windows 7 PC connect to the linksys router through its built-in "Network Sharing and Settings" control panel?

What is the make and model of your phone?  We may be able to adhoc enable it which is another option.

Reply
Bobby 3/22/2011 4:02:54 PM

Hi. I've been able to fly the drone, but only with a weird thing used by some other app, but I paid for yours and I'd prefer to use it. AR assist will see my HotSpot real quick, but when I click on it, it tries, and then tells me it is unable to acquire an IP address within a reasonable amount of time. I'm using Windows 7 and an Evo 4G. Given the chance, I'd like to make it a permanent fix. As in, I use my phone to hook up to it, and the drone recognizes it right away so I can go fly. Your app has been great so far what little bit I was able to use it.

Reply
Shell Shrader 3/22/2011 8:21:23 PM

I'll post a manual procedure you can follow to get your drone infrastructure enabled without AR.Assist.  It might take a couple days for me to get to it, but I'll make sure it covers enough territory to meet most needs when AR.Assist isn't up to the task.

Reply
Bobby 3/23/2011 11:06:44 AM

Thanks a whole lot. Your app seems to pretty much cover everything. Get that video recording worked out, and there will be no need for any other app.

I do have some questions about the future of it though.
Do you have any plans to implement the games like what they have for the ipod?
Any idea on the feasibility for software GPS stuff, and if it is feasible, any plans to implement that in AR Pro?
I had a few other things to ask, but I sorta forgot. I'm just severely digging this stuff.

Reply
Shell Shrader 3/23/2011 7:59:47 PM

In regards to priorities It is more likely that I'll move on to an Augmented Reality single player game rather than focus on video recording.  I have a concept that I'm just about ready to translate into something real.  

I spent a little bit of time a couple weeks back investigating recording and given the frame rates we tend to get back from the drone I'm really struggling with the value add.  I tried a couple things with an open source library (the same one Shawn used for implementing video in ARDrone Demo) and was able to make a little progress with it, but I scrapped it in favor working on other things... Besides the static libraries I have to bring in really bloat the app size wise... and its bad enough already with the 1.4.7 and 1.5.1 firmwares bound in.

Does Drone Control on iOS support recording?  I didn't think Tommy implemented it either.  

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Christian G 3/24/2011 2:47:11 PM

Hello shell.  I was wondering if you knew if any conflicts would arise from the wpa_supplicant fix that was released on the xda forums?

forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=754961

I have an HTC Thunderbolt

I had installed it using a binary version someone else compiled on the xda forums.
I haven't had any problems overall but I really just want to get ad hoc working so I can use your app and fly my drone.

I've tried your manual step for the galaxy S above but that isn't working.  I got into the telnet for my drone but other than that it wouldn't pair to my TB's AR_HOTSPOT.

Thanks.

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Shell Shrader 3/24/2011 2:56:23 PM

Christian,

Your TB is likely using a subnet/network other than the one provided by the Galaxy's hotspot.

Try this:

1.  Enable your TB's Hotspot
2.  Connect to it from a Windows laptop/PC
3.  Open a command window on the PC (Start-->Run-->cmd
4.  At the command prompt execute ipconfig (c:\..>ipconfig)
5.  Locate your Wi-Fi adapter and make note of the IP address assigned to your PC.
6.  Disconnect your PC from your Hotspot.
7.  Modify the string provided above to use the ip address that was assigned to your PC.

iwconfig ath0 mode managed essid AR_HOTSPOT ; ifconfig ath0 IP_FOR_LAPTOP_GOES_HERE netmask 255.255.255.0 up

8.  Pick back up at #3 in the comment I left for Shawn using the IP address supplied by your Thunderbolt instead of 192.168.43.2

Let me know how it goes.  I apologize to those waiting for a "clean" manual procedure.  Real life has a way of getting in the way of all the fun things.  It's coming.

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Christian G 3/24/2011 3:18:18 PM

I get the ip of 192.168.5.100.  I put it in interface ath0.  It tries to pass but then I lose  connection in the telnet.  I then went to network in the preferences of AR.Pro lite and changed the ip to 192.168.5.100.  I then went to connect to drone and it failed to connect.

Do I need the full version of AR.Pro, if so I will download now.

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Shell Shrader 3/24/2011 3:22:08 PM

No you do not need the full version for this operation.  

Try using the address 192.168.5.2

This should get you out of your Hotspot's DHCP range and not conflict with the Thunderbolt's own address (which is likely 192.168.5.1)

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Christian G 3/24/2011 3:31:36 PM

This time I did not lose connection to the telnet. I also changed the SSID for the drone in the network preference to match that of the actual SSID of my drone.  Still no success in connection through AR.Pro lite.

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Shell Shrader 3/24/2011 4:02:14 PM

Another thing you can try is to get both your drone and your PC on the phone's network at the same time.  Then you should be able to ping one from the other, telnet in and vice versa.  If you can get that done then AR.Pro will connect right on it, guaranteed.

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Christian G 3/24/2011 4:22:33 PM

Now would I do that by first telnetting and running your command then connecting from my PC to my AR_HOTSPOT then doing a ping to the 192.168.5.2 address?

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Admin 3/24/2011 4:43:04 PM

Precisely.

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Christian G 3/24/2011 5:04:30 PM

Well I connected to my phone after I did the telnet and ran the command.  I could ping my phone at 192.168.5.2 but could not ping the drone.

Now if I ran my linksys router without WPA, wide open, and tried this same proceedure instead with the eSSID and subnet of my linksys that this could possibly work?  I would just have to connect to my router and then tell my AR.Pro the IP of the drone and it should theoretically work?

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Shell Shrader 3/28/2011 8:27:05 PM

I have compiled a manual installation procedure for those having problems with AR.Assist or wishing to do the work themselves.

www.shellware.com/.../...-Enable-Your-ARDrone.aspx

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Jay 4/19/2011 11:21:08 PM

Shell,
Thanks for  all the work  you have done and continue to do!  I was able to connect to the drone using ARassist but when I go to the infrastructure patch and click on it nothing happens, it stays grey.  I am using a Samsung Galaxy and can not connect it to the internet and have the hotspot going at the same time.  Would that be part of the problem with not being able to use the patch?
Thanks!

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Dave 5/9/2011 12:10:04 PM

Hey there,

I've tried all of the various ways and I seem to be stuck with no joy.

Have you had luck or seen a motorla droid 1 work with this?  I am using a custom OS right now and it could be the problem.  I am going to try and go back to a stock rooted rom and try to enable AdHoc.

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dustin 6/18/2011 3:23:00 PM

can i use my droid 1 the first motorolia droid made to fly the drone

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Shell Shrader 6/19/2011 9:35:26 AM

I suspect that the original Moto Droid does not have the perquisite hardware to enable an enjoyable experience with AR.Pro and your Drone.

AR.Pro requires a display capable of at least 800x480 resolution, ideally with hardware acceleration.  Absent graphics hardware acceleration you are going to experience significant video and control lag which makes for a horrible experience.

Checking the existing install base of AR.Pro on the Android Market shows that I have zero active original Droid customers.  Droid X on the other hand has a considerable share of the install base at about 10% of all devices.  

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Werner Siebecke 6/20/2011 11:14:46 AM

Hi Shell,

1st: Great job!!! Admire what you are doing (AR.Pro, AR.Assist, videos etc.) for the Android community of AR.drone owners!

I´m facing an issue with AR-Assist and would like to get your ideas or thoughts on what to do to make it work.

My config:
- htc Desire with Froyo, latest updates
- Win 7 Ultimate German with latest SP and patches
- AR.drone with FW 1.6.6 or 1.8 (not sure, was updated when I flew it the last time using an iPOD)
- WLAN Hotspot on Desire: "ARHS", no security, Hotspot-IP 192.168.1.1/24, Start IP for DHCP (enabled) 192.168.1.2

In AR.Assist I´m at "Hotsport Ident.", seeing "ARHS" as the first scanned WLAN (and "ardrone_v1.6.6"), but when I click on ARHS, I only get "Unable to acquire an IP addr. w/i a reasonable amount of time. Please rescan and try again." after appx. 30 sec. of waiting. This beavior is the same, no matter if I´m changing the Hotspot name, enable/diable DHCP etc. ...

... but I know for sure that Tethering works fine on my Desire.

Can you help, please?

TIA!
Werner

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Shell 6/20/2011 11:26:29 AM

Hi Werner,

You may want to try the manual configuration guide as a number of people have reported problems getting AR.Assist to work for them.  You can find the guide here: www.shellware.com/.../...-Enable-Your-ARDrone.aspx

Also, I have yet to do any testing of the latest drone firmware (1.6.6) against any of my devices or drones.  This is an activity I have planned and fairly certain I will find all kinds of ugly things when I do.

Parrot recently announced official Android support.  I might just skip this firmware entirely awaiting for their next update as I'm fairly certain they will be providing a "SoftAP" / Hotspot function on the drone similar to how we use hotspots on our phones.

I'm not sure how else they will be able to officially support our devices.  In the meantime if I make any progress testing with the 1.6.6 firmware I will be sure to provide an update.

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Moris 12/23/2011 1:57:56 AM

I am using AR.Assist to connect my Sprint HTC Evo to AR but I am having a problem connect to the phone.  I click on HotSpot connection in Ar.Assist and I click on scan and it finds my phone. However when I click on it I get an error "Unable to acquire an ip address within a reasonable amount of time."

I went into my phone hotspot setting and I can see a MAC number but under IP it says not available.  Please let me know. Thanks

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dan 7/28/2012 4:53:01 PM

Hello
Is AR Assist valid/compatible with AR DRONE v2 ?

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Shell 8/1/2012 1:52:07 AM

I have not tested AR.Assist on v1 drones with 1.7.4 or greater firmware and no testing has been performed on v2 drones.  It just might work but I haven't taken the time to test it.

Also, I strongly advise against attempting to install the AR.Pro Infrastructure patch on V1 firmwares greater than 1.5.1 and any V2 drones.  

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