MDS - Mission-Directed Swarm

Open-source MAVLink fleet operations for PX4 drones, SITL, drone shows, SAR, and cooperative autonomy.

MDS began as MAVSDK Drone Show and now covers a broader PX4-oriented fleet stack: drone-side runtime, GCS/backend services, React operator dashboard, SITL, real companion computers, sidecar connectivity, and mission execution workflows. It is built to stay simple enough for a quick SITL demo while remaining structured enough for serious multi-drone validation, operations, and custom deployments.

What MDS Covers

• Offline drone shows with SkyBrush-imported trajectories and synchronized execution
• Smart swarm missions with live leader-follower coordination and runtime control
• QuickScout SAR / recon with multi-drone coverage planning and PX4 Mission Mode execution
• Unified operations tooling with SITL, GCS services, Swarm Trajectory planning, and live/historical logs

MDS is a field-operations and research platform, not certified avionics. Flight testing requires qualified operators, local aviation compliance, geofencing, failsafe review, and independent safety validation.

Start Here

If you want to...	Start here
run the first demo quickly	SITL Comprehensive Guide
import and launch a drone show	Drone Show Guide
run Smart Swarm from the dashboard	Smart Swarm Guide
author, process, and launch a Swarm Trajectory mission	Swarm Trajectory Guide
point MDS at a customer/private repo	Custom Repo Workflow
install a GCS on a VPS or Ubuntu box	GCS Setup Guide
deploy real drone hardware	MDS Init Setup Guide
build or ship a validated custom SITL image	SITL Custom Release Workflow
browse everything else	Documentation Index

Quick Demo

Start with the SITL Comprehensive Guide. It covers the official SITL archive, validation, bootstrap, dashboard launch, and the current dashboard-first SITL Control workflow.

For normal demos, use the dashboard SITL Control page to reconcile/start SITL drones instead of copying low-level shell commands from the README. Shell and make wrappers still exist for automation and advanced operators; see the Operator Makefile Guide when you need scripted control.

The dashboard launcher keeps the FastAPI backend single-process by default, so telemetry, heartbeats, command tracking, and other in-memory operational state stay coherent during live SITL runs. Backend auto-reload is only for backend code editing; the SITL guide covers that advanced mode.

For the stock official SITL package, Mission Config starts from the tracked Azadi Stadium demo origin in data/origin.sitl.default.json. If you later set a different origin in the dashboard or via the API, MDS writes a local runtime override to data/origin.json on that server. Remove that local file when you want the stock Azadi default to apply again.

For the default official HTTPS demo path, the GCS now treats git write-back as disabled by default (MDS_GIT_AUTO_PUSH=false). That keeps imports/config saves clean on read-only evaluation setups; move to the fork/SSH workflow when you want the GCS to commit and push changes.

If you skipped the bootstrap installer and do not have the repo yet, follow the clone/bootstrap path in the SITL guide instead of copying ad-hoc commands from the README.

For a first dashboard-driven Smart Swarm run after SITL launch:

1. open Overview and confirm the target drones show READY with live telemetry
2. open Swarm Design and review the saved follow chain / cluster layout
3. use Formation Analysis to choose the cluster you want to operate on
4. use Smart Swarm Runtime to verify the Formation Preview and live readiness snapshot
5. start Selected Drone or Selected Cluster, then use Stop Swarm (Hold), Land Swarm, or RTL Swarm for explicit swarm-level control

The validated 5-drone Smart Swarm acceptance flow is documented in the Smart Swarm and SITL guides, including the operator-safe dashboard path and the automation validation helper for advanced users.

If you need your own fork, custom image, or a pinned redistribution workflow, do not improvise from the demo path. Use:

• Custom Repo Workflow
• Advanced SITL Guide
• SITL Custom Release Workflow

These advanced and real-hardware paths require stronger PX4/Linux/networking knowledge plus licensing, regulatory, and operational review. If you need private assistance or deployment consulting, contact Alireza on LinkedIn or p30planets@gmail.com.

More Guides

• Advanced SITL Guide for custom runtime env vars, mutable boot-sync behavior, and debug-oriented SITL tuning
• Logging System Guide for live and historical GCS / drone logs
• QuickScout Guide for SAR / recon workflows
• Documentation Index for the full map, APIs, archived notes, and deeper references

Optional Ecosystem Tools

MDS can integrate optional companion-side tools when real hardware needs them:

• Smart Wi-Fi Manager for field Wi-Fi profile management on Linux companion computers
• MAVLink Anywhere for MAVLink routing over companion computers, LTE/Wi-Fi/VPN, UDP, and serial

They remain standalone projects and are not required for a first SITL demo.

Product Highlights

• Single operator surface: React dashboard for monitoring, control, QuickScout, Swarm Trajectory, and log review
• Modern SITL workflow: prebuilt PX4 Gazebo SITL image, fast container startup, and reproducible custom-image tooling
• Operational visibility: unified logging across GCS, drones, and frontend error reporting with exportable sessions
• Drone Show pipeline: staged SkyBrush ZIP import, processed trajectory plots, readiness gating, and synchronized launch control
• Scalable architecture: designed for anything from a small demo to large validated multi-container runs

Roadmap Direction

Active and planned work is tracked in ROADMAP.md. Current research directions include:

• MCP-compatible AI-agent workflows for drone swarms and fleet operations
• automated SAR, surveillance, and cooperative mission workflows
• PixEagle integration for vision-assisted swarm control
• GPS-denied and indoor swarm feasibility using AI/image-processing pipelines such as monocular vision
• future ArduPilot support exploration
• optimized minimal SIH Docker simulation for lightweight validation

Dashboard Scope

The dashboard covers:

• live fleet monitoring and control
• mission upload and execution
• Swarm Trajectory planning and advanced route editing
• QuickScout mission planning and monitoring
• live and historical Log Viewer workflows

Map-heavy features such as Swarm Trajectory, the Advanced Route Editor, and QuickScout use Mapbox when available and Leaflet fallback otherwise. See the relevant guides in Documentation Index.

Videos

Feature Showcase

100-Drone SITL

Smart Swarm Demo

• Project history and walkthrough playlist: YouTube playlist
• MDS 5 walkthrough: coming soon, to be linked here when published

Documentation

• Documentation Index: full guide map
• CHANGELOG.md: notable changes
• VERSIONING.md: release/version workflow
• Python Compatibility: supported Python versions

Licensing

MDS uses dual licensing:

• PolyForm Noncommercial for education, research, and other non-commercial use
• PolyForm Small Business for qualifying small commercial operators
• Commercial license for larger commercial deployments

See LICENSE and LICENSE-COMMERCIAL.md.

Contact And Contributions

• Commercial / deployment inquiries: p30planets@gmail.com
• GitHub issues: bug reports and feature requests
• Contributing guide: CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributors should start feature branches from main. Use short-lived feature or client branches for work-in-progress, then merge back to main only after SITL/hardware validation.

Safety Note

Real-drone deployment requires appropriate flight-test discipline, regulatory compliance, and failsafe validation. Treat SITL success as a prerequisite, not as proof of real-world readiness.