This app uses the Gamepad API and the chrome.socket API to communicate with a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0.
The SDK specifies that there are 4 socket connections:
- UDP 5554: Receiving navdata, i.e. battery, velocities, control state
- TCP 5555: Receiving H264 video [not implemented]
- UDP 5556: Sending AT commands for tilt, rotation and elevation
- UDP 5559: Sending Admin commands
The app connects to port 5556 and sends commands to the Drone depending on which buttons are pressed on the gamepad. The commands themselves are AT commands, which are essentially strings in a specific format. The command strings are concatenated and converted to an ArrayBuffer and sent over the socket connection. Since the protocol in use is UDP there is no guarantee of packet delivery so all commands are sent approximately every 30ms.
When data comes back in it is parsed according to the navdata specification in the Drone SDK documentation. The navdata comes back in as an ArrayBuffer from which numbers are read from fixed byte positions. This includes data on the control state of the drone (flying, hovering, landing, taking off), the battery percentage, its angles, altitudes and velcocities.
Please note: this has only been tested with an Xbox 360 controller
Thanks to felixge for the Node AR Drone lib, which served as a helpful reference.