Experimental Flight

The easiest drone to fly with paparazzi is the Bebop 2, from Parrot. It is no longer produced but can still be found 2nd hand.

Using the Bebop 2 with Paparazzi

Make sure to have a bebop with at least firmware v3.3.0. Update it from FreeFlight pro if needed.

  • Start the Paparazzi Center (or Stop/remove all processes)

  • Select the bebop2 A/C and build it for the ap target

  • Power up the Bebop

  • Connect your laptop to the Bebop’s wifi network

  • Press the on/off button 4 times

  • Press the “Upload” button and wait. The messages in the console should end with “DONE”

  • Select the Flight UDP/Wifi session, then execute.

You should get the telemetry from the bebop.

Making the changes permanent

In the current state, you have to do the process all over again every time you restart the Bebop. However, you can start Paparazzi by default with the following steps:

  • Power up the Bebop

  • Connect your laptop to the Bebop’s wifi network

  • Press the on/off button 4 times

  • Open a terminal and go to paparazzi/sw/tools/parrot

Launch ./bebop.py status. You should get the current status of the drone’s configuration. If it does not work, you may need to add the --host argument with the drone’s IP address like so: ./bebop.py --host 192.168.1.15 status.

Note

The default IP address of the bebop is 192.168.42.1. In this case, you don’t need the --host argument.

Install the autostart script with ./bebop.py install_autostart.

Change network settings

You can change the network settings of the drone to make it connect to an existing WiFi network: ./bebop.py configure_network mySSID managed dhcp. You can replace dhcp by a fixed IP address to use static IP instead of getting the address from your external router DHCP in managed mode.

Calibration

The default values may be good enough to be able to fly, but it is recommanded that you calibrate the drone before flying. Go to the Sensor Calibration page to learn how to do that.

Connect a Joystick

Note

This part is optionnal but it is recommended to connect a joystick to have an easy way to control your drone, if something unexpected should happen.

Learn how to connect a joystick to your laptop to control your drone on this page: Use a Joystick