MavSDK ATAK Plugin Example

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PURPOSE AND CAPABILITIES

This plugin showcases a modern (5.5) ATAK plugin using the new recommended formatting provided by TAK

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STATUS

Demo Project

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POINT OF CONTACTS

• Godfrey Nolan
• Zain Raza

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PORTS REQUIRED

udp://:14550

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EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

• Docker

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EQUIPMENT SUPPORTED

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COMPILATION

Compilation Instructions

1. Download the 5.5 Release from tak.gov
2. Unzip the 5.5 Release to a directory of your choice
3. cd into the 5.5 Release directory
4. make a directory called plugins if it doesn't already exist
5. git clone this repository into the plugins directory
6. Open it in Android Studio
7. Make sure your Gradle version is 8+ and Java version is 17/21
8. Project should build successfully, make sure to use a physical device and run the plugin

Using MavSDK

1. Take note of your Android device's and computer's IP Address
2. docker run --rm -it -p 8554:8554 jonasvautherin/px4-gazebo-headless:1.13.2 -v typhoon_h480 <PHONE_IP> <COMPUTER_IP>
3. For me this looks like docker run --rm -it -p 8554:8554 jonasvautherin/px4-gazebo-headless:1.13.2 -v typhoon_h480 192.168.2.15 192.168.2.182
4. Run the app after setting it up from steps above
5. Open side bar and navigate to this plugin -> check side bar

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DEVELOPER NOTES

How is this structure from the old one?

As you'll notice, the key difference is the lack of a MapComponent and DropDownReceiver classes. Previously we would treat the MapComponent as the entrypoint for the plugin and use it to control the map. Now we just have the default PluginTemplate class which we can rename to our own plugin name. The PluginTemplate class is the entrypoint for the plugin and is where we can initialize our plugin and set up any necessary components.

We can now use the PluginTemplate and the IHostUIService to implement our designs in the ATAK UI. We can inspect the following snippet to understand the kind of control we now have over the ATAK UI:

// obtain the UI service
uiService = serviceController.getService<IHostUIService?>(IHostUIService::class.java)

// initialize the toolbar button for the plugin

// create the button
toolbarItem = ToolbarItem.Builder(
    pluginContext!!.getString(R.string.app_name),
    MarshalManager.marshal<Bitmap?, Drawable?>(
        pluginContext!!.getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.ic_launcher),
            Drawable::class.java,
            Bitmap::class.java
        )
    )
    .setListener(object : ToolbarItemAdapter() {
        override fun onClick(item: ToolbarItem?) {
            showPane()
        }
    })
    .build()

This snippet means that when the user clicks on the toolbar button, the showPane() method will be called. This is where we can implement our custom UI logic if we so choose.

We can also declare our own UI classes and views (similar to previous DropDownReceivers) so we can display them:

val view = PluginLayoutInflater.inflate(
                pluginContext,
                R.layout.main_layout,
                null
            )
            positionTextView = view.findViewById(R.id.positionTextView)

            templatePane = PaneBuilder(view) // relative location is set to default; pane will switch location dependent on
                // current orientation of device screen
                .setMetaValue(
                    Pane.RELATIVE_LOCATION,
                    Pane.Location.Default
                ) // pane will take up 50% of screen width in landscape mode
                .setMetaValue(
                    Pane.PREFERRED_WIDTH_RATIO,
                    0.5
                ) // pane will take up 50% of screen height in portrait mode
                .setMetaValue(Pane.PREFERRED_HEIGHT_RATIO, 0.5)
                .build()

Here we are inflating a layout from the resources and setting it up as a pane. The PaneBuilder allows us to specify how the pane should be displayed, including its size and position on the screen. We could've expanded our view into it's own class, but for simplicity we are just using the PluginLayoutInflater to inflate the layout directly in the PluginTemplate class. We can then just use the default showPane() function to show our custom view.

If I wanted to create another view in the same way, I could create another XML layout file and switch between them in the showPane() method. This allows us to have multiple views and switch between them as needed. At that point I would likely be creating a new class for each view to keep things organized, but for simplicity's sake I've left it in PluginTemplate.