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How ArduPilot, MAVLink, and Ground Control Stations Fit Together

A practical guide for routing ArduPilot MAVLink telemetry to primary GCS applications and MAVProxy companion nodes.

Last reviewed 8/12/2026. Data checked within the review cycle. Review cycles are documented on the Methodology page. Methodology

architecture Reviewed 8/12/2026

Problem definition

How do I route MAVLink packets from an ArduPilot vehicle to both a primary GCS (Mission Planner or QGroundControl) and an external companion computer or secondary link using MAVProxy?

Steps

  1. Set Serial Port Protocol Parameters

    Configure SERIAL1_PROTOCOL=2 (MAVLink2) and SERIAL1_BAUD=57 for physical telemetry, or SERIAL2_PROTOCOL=2 for companion computer connections.

  2. Launch MAVProxy for Packet Routing

    Run MAVProxy to multiplex telemetry streams: mavproxy.py --master=/dev/ttyUSB0,57600 --out=127.0.0.1:14550 --out=127.0.0.1:14551 to serve both GCS and companion APIs simultaneously.

  3. Connect Ground Control Station

    Open QGroundControl or Mission Planner and bind to UDP 14550. Confirm stream rates using MAVLink SRx_* parameters.

Guide

ArduPilot MAVLink Architecture

ArduPilot generates MAVLink messages across internal threads and routes them through configurable SERIALx_PROTOCOL parameters to radios or software bridges like MAVProxy.

Judgment criteria

  • MAVProxy routes clean telemetry streams to multiple target UDP ports without message collision.
  • ArduPilot parameter download succeeds on all attached ground stations.

Common risks

  • Setting SERIALx_PROTOCOL to 1 (MAVLink1) restricts bandwidth efficiency and disables extended message IDs.
  • Misconfiguring baud rates between flight controller hardware serial ports and telemetry radios.

Checklist

Related technical resources

COM
Solution Recipe Tier A

mavlink/mavlink

Official confirmed

Marshalling / communication library for drones.

Communication Links
License: Unknown Unknown Checked 16d ago
Details Official Repository
GCS
Ground Control Station Tier A

mavlink/qgroundcontrol

Official confirmed

Cross-platform ground control station for drones (Android, iOS, Mac OS, Linux, Windows)

GCS Ground Station Ardupilot Drone +7
Apache-2.0 Inferred Checked 16d ago
Details Official Repository

Next steps