USB-C disabled USB-A to SkyController3

ANAFI USA / ANAFI Thermal / ANAFI 4K
1

Hello,

I’m fairly new to the Parrot ANAFI, I’m currently trying to pull streams separate from the HUD that you see on the Android/iOS app. I’m also hoping to use the SkyController3 at the same time. Is it possible to have RNDIS out on the USB-C to pull the RTSP stream and to have video+control via the app on a smartphone?

I’ve found that when I plug in the USB-C to my computer, the connection on the USB-A is disabled. Is there a workaround for this?

Regards,
Doug

2

Hi

Both USB ports actually use the same data lines, so there is no way to use both at the same time.
If you want to have a smartphone + an ethernet connexion at the same time, the only way is to use a USB Hub + a USB to Ethernet adapter.
Here is a post with more details about this which should still be relevant today.

Regards,
Nicolas.

3

Thanks Nicolas.

Does this mean you can use a hub and still take advantage of RNDI while the controller is connected to the phone?

Regards,
Doug

4

I’ve tried USB hubs, sadly the RNDIS is no longer usable from what I’ve test so far. Direct from USB-C to USB-A into the PC is the only thing that works.

5

Hi

Of course the direct RNDIS connection won’t work with a USB Hub since the USB ports on the SkyController will be forced to master mode. That’s why I mentioned a USB-Ethernet adapter in the workaround, to get a real Ethernet connection from the SkyController, which you can then connect to your computer : either directly, in which case the SkyController will act as a DHCP server and take the 192.168.43.1 IP address as in the RNDIS case, or via your own network, in which case the SkyController will get its IP via your network DHCP server.

Regards,
Nicolas.

6

Hi Nicolas

Thanks again for all your help! I was able to source a USB hub and correct Ethernet adapter, all working as expected and thanks again for your help. Is it possible to pull metadata and make use of the SDK from another source using while the phone is still controlling the drone?

Kind regards,
Doug

7

Hi,

Video metadata (as described in the pdraw documentation) is available, since it is embedded in the video stream itself. SDK access, however, is not, since the SkyController only accepts a single SDK client (the phone, in this case).

Regards,
Nicolas.