MavLink and Elasticsearch Integration
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Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
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Input and output integration overview
This plugin collects metrics from MavLink-compatible flight controllers like ArduPilot and PX4, enabling live data ingestion from unmanned systems such as drones and boats.
The Telegraf Elasticsearch Plugin seamlessly sends metrics to an Elasticsearch server. The plugin handles template creation and dynamic index management, and supports various Elasticsearch-specific features to ensure data is formatted correctly for storage and retrieval.
Integration details
MavLink
The MavLink plugin is designed to gather metrics from MavLink-compatible flight controllers such as ArduPilot and PX4. It provides a mechanism to live ingest flight metrics from various unmanned systems, including drones, planes, and boats. By utilizing the ArduPilot-specific MavLink dialect, the plugin parses a wide range of messages as documented in the MavLink documentation. It enables seamless integration of telemetry data, allowing for detailed monitoring and analysis of flight operations. Users must be cautious, as this plugin may generate a substantial volume of data; thus, filters are available to limit the metrics collected and transmitted to output plugins. Additionally, configuration options allow customization of which messages to receive and how to connect to the flight controller.
Elasticsearch
This plugin writes metrics to Elasticsearch, a distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine capable of storing large amounts of data in near real-time. It is designed to handle Elasticsearch versions 5.x through 7.x and utilizes its dynamic template features to manage data type mapping properly. The plugin supports advanced features such as template management, dynamic index naming, and integration with OpenSearch. It also allows configurations for authentication and health monitoring of the Elasticsearch nodes.
Configuration
MavLink
[[inputs.mavlink]]
## Flight controller URL supporting serial port, UDP and TCP connections.
## Options are documented at
## https://mavsdk.mavlink.io/v1.4/en/cpp/guide/connections.html.
##
## Examples:
## - Serial port: serial:///dev/ttyACM0:57600
## - TCP client: tcp://192.168.1.12:5760
## - UDP client: udp://192.168.1.12:14550
## - TCP server: tcpserver://:5760
## - UDP server: udpserver://:14550
# url = "tcp://127.0.0.1:5760"
## Filter to specific messages. Only the messages in this list will be parsed.
## If blank or unset, all messages will be accepted. Glob syntax is accepted.
## Each message in this list should be lowercase camel_case, with "message_"
## prefix removed, eg: "global_position_int", "attitude"
# filter = []
## Mavlink system ID for Telegraf. Only used if the mavlink plugin is sending
## messages, eg. when `stream_request_frequency` is 0 (see below.)
# system_id = 254
## Determines whether the plugin sends requests to subscribe to data.
## In mavlink, stream rates must be configured before data is received.
## This config item sets the rate in Hz, with 0 disabling the request.
##
## This frequency should be set to 0 if your software already controls the
## rates using REQUEST_DATA_STREAM or MAV_CMD_SET_MESSAGE_INTERVAL
## (See https://mavlink.io/en/mavgen_python/howto_requestmessages.html)
# stream_request_frequency = 4
Elasticsearch
[[outputs.elasticsearch]]
## The full HTTP endpoint URL for your Elasticsearch instance
## Multiple urls can be specified as part of the same cluster,
## this means that only ONE of the urls will be written to each interval
urls = [ "http://node1.es.example.com:9200" ] # required.
## Elasticsearch client timeout, defaults to "5s" if not set.
timeout = "5s"
## Set to true to ask Elasticsearch a list of all cluster nodes,
## thus it is not necessary to list all nodes in the urls config option
enable_sniffer = false
## Set to true to enable gzip compression
enable_gzip = false
## Set the interval to check if the Elasticsearch nodes are available
## Setting to "0s" will disable the health check (not recommended in production)
health_check_interval = "10s"
## Set the timeout for periodic health checks.
# health_check_timeout = "1s"
## HTTP basic authentication details.
## HTTP basic authentication details
# username = "telegraf"
# password = "mypassword"
## HTTP bearer token authentication details
# auth_bearer_token = "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9"
## Index Config
## The target index for metrics (Elasticsearch will create if it not exists).
## You can use the date specifiers below to create indexes per time frame.
## The metric timestamp will be used to decide the destination index name
# %Y - year (2016)
# %y - last two digits of year (00..99)
# %m - month (01..12)
# %d - day of month (e.g., 01)
# %H - hour (00..23)
# %V - week of the year (ISO week) (01..53)
## Additionally, you can specify a tag name using the notation {{tag_name}}
## which will be used as part of the index name. If the tag does not exist,
## the default tag value will be used.
# index_name = "telegraf-{{host}}-%Y.%m.%d"
# default_tag_value = "none"
index_name = "telegraf-%Y.%m.%d" # required.
## Optional Index Config
## Set to true if Telegraf should use the "create" OpType while indexing
# use_optype_create = false
## Optional TLS Config
# tls_ca = "/etc/telegraf/ca.pem"
# tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/cert.pem"
# tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/key.pem"
## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
# insecure_skip_verify = false
## Template Config
## Set to true if you want telegraf to manage its index template.
## If enabled it will create a recommended index template for telegraf indexes
manage_template = true
## The template name used for telegraf indexes
template_name = "telegraf"
## Set to true if you want telegraf to overwrite an existing template
overwrite_template = false
## If set to true a unique ID hash will be sent as sha256(concat(timestamp,measurement,series-hash)) string
## it will enable data resend and update metric points avoiding duplicated metrics with different id's
force_document_id = false
## Specifies the handling of NaN and Inf values.
## This option can have the following values:
## none -- do not modify field-values (default); will produce an error if NaNs or infs are encountered
## drop -- drop fields containing NaNs or infs
## replace -- replace with the value in "float_replacement_value" (default: 0.0)
## NaNs and inf will be replaced with the given number, -inf with the negative of that number
# float_handling = "none"
# float_replacement_value = 0.0
## Pipeline Config
## To use a ingest pipeline, set this to the name of the pipeline you want to use.
# use_pipeline = "my_pipeline"
## Additionally, you can specify a tag name using the notation {{tag_name}}
## which will be used as part of the pipeline name. If the tag does not exist,
## the default pipeline will be used as the pipeline. If no default pipeline is set,
## no pipeline is used for the metric.
# use_pipeline = "{{es_pipeline}}"
# default_pipeline = "my_pipeline"
#
# Custom HTTP headers
# To pass custom HTTP headers please define it in a given below section
# [outputs.elasticsearch.headers]
# "X-Custom-Header" = "custom-value"
## Template Index Settings
## Overrides the template settings.index section with any provided options.
## Defaults provided here in the config
# template_index_settings = {
# refresh_interval = "10s",
# mapping.total_fields.limit = 5000,
# auto_expand_replicas = "0-1",
# codec = "best_compression"
# }
Input and output integration examples
MavLink
-
Real-Time Fleet Monitoring: Utilize the MavLink plugin to create a centralized dashboard for monitoring multiple drones in real-time. By ingesting metrics from various flight controllers, operators can oversee the status, health, and location of all drones, allowing for quick decision-making and enhanced situational awareness. This integration could significantly improve coordination during large-scale operations, like aerial surveys or search and rescue missions.
-
Automated Anomaly Detection: Leverage MavLink in conjunction with machine learning algorithms to detect anomalies in flight data. By continuously monitoring metrics such as altitude, speed, and battery status, the system can alert operators to deviations from normal behavior, potentially indicating technical malfunctions or safety issues. This proactive approach can enhance safety and reduce the risk of in-flight failures.
-
Data-Driven Maintenance Scheduling: Integrate the data collected through the MavLink plugin with maintenance management systems to optimize maintenance schedules based on actual flight metrics. Analyzing the collected data can highlight patterns indicating when specific components are likely to fail, thereby enabling predictive maintenance strategies that minimize downtime and repair costs.
-
Enhanced Research Analytics: For academic and commercial UAV research, MavLink can be used to gather extensive flight data for analysis. By compiling metrics over numerous flights, researchers can uncover insights related to flight patterns, environmental interactions, and the efficiency of different drone models. This can foster advancements in UAV technology and broader applications in autonomous systems.
Elasticsearch
-
Time-based Indexing: Use this plugin to store metrics in Elasticsearch to index each metric based on the time collected. For example, CPU metrics can be stored in a daily index named
telegraf-2023.01.01
, allowing easy time-based queries and retention policies. -
Dynamic Templates Management: Utilize the template management feature to automatically create a custom template tailored to your metrics. This allows you to define how different fields are indexed and analyzed without manually configuring Elasticsearch, ensuring an optimal data structure for querying.
-
OpenSearch Compatibility: If you are using AWS OpenSearch, you can configure this plugin to work seamlessly by activating compatibility mode, ensuring your existing Elasticsearch clients remain functional and compatible with newer cluster setups.
Feedback
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Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
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