feature request: get current vtol state

[mattes-bru]

I currently stumbled over the fact, that I can control the VTOL state from MAVSDK but don't have the possibility to read it's current state. Is this left out by purpose? I would have expected a property in the telemetry plugin, where the in_air property is generated from the extended_sys_state.

Regards

[julianoes]

Good point. I think it would be worthwhile to add that to the telemetry plugin.

The first step would be to add it to the interface here: https://github.com/mavlink/MAVSDK-Proto/blob/main/protos/telemetry/telemetry.proto

Also see: https://mavsdk.mavlink.io/main/en/cpp/contributing/plugins.html#add-api-to-proto

[JonasVautherin]

Not sure I get what's missing. So when flying a VTOL, you don't know if it is in_air or not?

[mattes-bru]

@JonasVautherin No, I get the inAir state, this is fine. I only wish I could get the current state of the vtol, wether it is currently flying as a fixed or rotary wing.

@julianoes thank you for sharing this helpful links. I will have a deeper look after my vacation.

[JonasVautherin]

Oh I see, so something like a SubscribeVtolState in telemetry.proto (from Julian's link above), right?

[mattes-bru]

Exactly. This would be a really helpful extension. As far as I overlooked the API there is currently no way to determine the current vtol state.

[JonasVautherin]

Yeah that makes sense 👍. As Julian said, your first step is to add the function definition in telemetry.proto (I suggested SubscribeVtolState), and then generate the C++ code. Write the implementation there, and it will later come automagically to MAVSDK-Python 😊. I made a live demo during the last DevSummit, if you want to have a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1orxSyqDzI

[mattes-bru]

@JonasVautherin @julianoes thank you both for your kind support. I currently made two pull requests mavlink/MAVSDK#1521 and mavlink/MAVSDK-Proto#250 Let me know when I need to add or change anything.

[bazfp]

LGTM

[mattes-bru]

@julianoes is there anything to do in order to have this feature available in mavsdk-python?

[JonasVautherin]

I would suggest that we make a new mavsdk-python release after the next mavsdk release. Should automatically bring it then

[mattes-bru]

Ok I found the issue, which stopped me from testing this: #391

Now the vtol_state property is there 💪

[julianoes]

FYI Release is coming https://github.com/mavlink/MAVSDK-Python/releases/tag/0.20.0