MavLink and VictoriaMetrics Integration

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.

This plugin enables Telegraf to efficiently write metrics directly into VictoriaMetrics using the InfluxDB line protocol, leveraging the performance and scalability features of VictoriaMetrics for large-scale time-series data.

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.

VictoriaMetrics

VictoriaMetrics supports direct ingestion of metrics in the InfluxDB line protocol, making this plugin ideal for efficient real-time metric storage and retrieval. The integration combines Telegraf’s extensive metric collection capabilities with VictoriaMetrics’ optimized storage and querying features, including compression, fast ingestion rates, and efficient disk utilization. Ideal for cloud-native and large-scale monitoring scenarios, this plugin offers simplicity, robust performance, and high reliability, enabling advanced operational insights and long-term storage solutions for large volumes of metrics.

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

VictoriaMetrics

[[outputs.influxdb]]
  ## URL of the VictoriaMetrics write endpoint
  urls = ["http://localhost:8428"]

  ## VictoriaMetrics accepts InfluxDB line protocol directly
  database = "db_name"

  ## Optional authentication
  # username = "username"
  # password = "password"
  # skip_database_creation = true
  # exclude_retention_policy_tag = true
  # content_encoding = "gzip"

  ## Timeout for HTTP requests
  timeout = "5s"

  ## Optional TLS configuration
  # tls_ca = "/path/to/ca.pem"
  # tls_cert = "/path/to/cert.pem"
  # tls_key = "/path/to/key.pem"
  # insecure_skip_verify = false

Input and output integration examples

MavLink

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

VictoriaMetrics

1. Cloud-Native Application Monitoring: Stream metrics from microservices deployed on Kubernetes directly into VictoriaMetrics. By centralizing metrics, organizations can perform real-time monitoring, rapid anomaly detection, and seamless scalability across dynamically evolving cloud environments.

2. Scalable IoT Data Management: Use the plugin to ingest sensor data from IoT deployments into VictoriaMetrics. This approach facilitates real-time analytics, predictive maintenance, and efficient management of massive volumes of sensor data with minimal storage overhead.

3. Financial Systems Performance Tracking: Leverage VictoriaMetrics via this plugin to store and analyze metrics from financial systems, capturing latency, transaction volume, and error rates. Organizations can rapidly identify and resolve performance bottlenecks, ensuring high availability and regulatory compliance.

4. Cross-Environment Performance Dashboards: Integrate metrics from diverse infrastructure components—such as cloud instances, containers, and physical servers into VictoriaMetrics. Using visualization tools, teams can build comprehensive dashboards for end-to-end performance visibility, proactive troubleshooting, and infrastructure optimization.

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