Configuration

Platforms and sensors.

To work with live video streams, you must first configure them. In general, the server works with a logical entity called a Platform such as a plane, drone, or car, that can carry multiple Sensors (video cameras) or other data sources. The operator configures the platforms.yml file to specify the existing platforms and network topology.

When you record the streams, it becomes a mission, which includes live feeds, recordings, and descriptive metadata. Until recording is active, it's simply a video feed — the mission may or may not have started yet.

The StanagOnDemand server works with Stanag streams that come as UDP multicast streams. If you have unicast source streams, you can use a stream recaster for unicast-to-multicast recasting.

Basic platform configuration

Let's use an example to show the configuration file that defines two UAV platforms (with names UAV_1 and UAV_2)

The first UAV has four video sensors:

• EO/IR sensor with the stream coming from udp://227.1.1.1:30120
• Tail camera sensor with the stream coming from udp://227.1.1.2:30122
• Operator screen capture sensor with the stream coming from udp://227.1.1.3:30123
• Radar capture sensor with the stream coming from udp://227.1.1.4:30124

Note that the Radar sensor has the active parameter set to false (active: false), so this sensor is not monitored. Set it to true to enable monitoring.

The second UAV has only one sensor:

• EO/IR sensor with the stream coming from udp://228.1.1.1:1234

If you have only one UAV (platform) to monitor, there should be only one platform on the list.

platforms:
# First platform 
  - name: UAV_1    
    active: true
    description: First platform
    type: Plane
    sensors:
      - name: EO/IR
        description: EO/IR sensor
        active: true       
        type: video
        url: udp://227.1.1.1:30120

      - name: Tail
        description: Tail camera
        active: true
        type: video
        url: udp://227.1.1.2:30122

      - name: Operator
        description: Operator screen
        active: true         
        type: video
        url: udp://227.1.1.3:30123   

      - name: Radar
        description: Radar
        active: false     
        type: video
        url: udp://227.1.1.4:30124  

# Second platform
  - name: UAV_2
    active: true
    description: Second platform
    type: Plane
    sensors:
      - name: EO/IR
        active: true        
        type: video
        url: udp://228.1.1.1:1234          

Note. If you have to select the specific network interface, use add ?localaddr= to the url:

udp://227.1.1.1:30120?localaddr=192.168.1.28

Allowed platform types:

• Plane
• Helicopter
• Quadcopter
• Camera
• ROV
• Diver

Configuring live video preview per channel

By default, the video preview parameters are configured via environmental variables passed to the stserver-webrtc-streamer:

  webrtc-streamer:   
    image: impleo/stserver-webrtc-streamer:2.0.2
    container_name:  webrtc-streamer
    restart: always  
    depends_on:
      - broker
      - stsupervisor
    environment:
      STSERVER_NAME: ${SERVER_NAME}
      VIDEO_BITRATE: "3500000"
      VIDEO_RESOLUTION: "1280x720"
      WEBRTC_SERVICE: "stanag2webrtc"

It is possible to override these parameters per channel by adding a live section to the sensor configuration. For example, if you have a video that can be directly played back in the browser (using the h264 codec) to preserve the original video quality and minimize CPU usage, it is recommended to use video pass-through by setting the videoPassthrough parameter to true.

# Platforms 
platforms:
# First platform 
  - name: UAV_1 
    active: true
    description: First platform
    type: Plane
    sensors:
        - name: EO
          description: EO/IR sensor
          active: true       
          type: video
          url: udp://227.1.1.1:30120
          live:
            videoPassthrough: true

Alternatively, if you want to set specific video bitrate, resolution and codec, you can use the videoResolution, videoBitrate and videoCodec parameters.

# Platforms 
platforms:
# First platform 
  - name: UAV_1
    active: true
    description: First platform
    type: Plane
    sensors:
      - name: EO         
        description: EO/IR sensor
        active: true       
        type: video
        url: udp://227.1.1.1:30120
        live:
          videoResolution: "1280x720"
          videoBitrate: 2500000
          videoCodecName: vp8

Video stream without KLV

If you video stream does not contain KLV metadata, you must set the noKlv parameter to true.

# Platforms 
platforms:
# First platform 
  - name: UAV_1 
    active: true
    description: First platform
    type: Plane
    sensors:
      - name: EO
        description: EO/IR sensor
        active: true       
        type: video
        url: udp://227.1.1.1:30120
        live:
          noKlv: true