Ground Control Stations & RC

Ground Control Station (or shortly called GCS) is generally referred to the setup and equipment on the ground side that an operator works with in order to monitor and control the drone or UAV.

This setup can usually include a system which can be a computer, PC, tablet, or a smartphone that can run the ground control software. This system is connected with the datalink system wired or wirelessly (depending on the interface of the datalink), and receives and sends data from and to the UAV to monitor and control the drone. 

Ground control station interfaces

The richer the set of interfaces on the ground control station, the easier it would be to integrate them into an existing system. One would expect to have all the normal interfaces that you would see on a normal PC to be available on a ground control station too. This includes USB, Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G/LTE, and HDMI ports. USB and Ethernet ports are mainly used for data communication. HDMI ports is usually an output HDMI to extend or mirror the display of the GCS to an external monitor. However, there are some models that also support input HDMI port to view an external video stream on the GCS display.

Single or Dual screen ground control station

Ground control stations can have single, dual, or multiple screens. One of the screens will be used to run the ground control software show the UAV information such as the GPS location, speed, altitude and other useful information, while the other one is used to display the video stream of the gimbal that is installed on the drone.

If there is only one monitor, you should see both the information in picture-in-picture mode. The brightness of the GCS screen is an important factor. Having a high brightness level of 1000nit or more makes the GCS suitable to be operated in outdoor environments and under the direct sunlight.

Multiple operator 

For easier operations, some drone operators will only focus on one mission. This means that one operator is responsible for monitoring and controlling drone and sending control commands, while the other operator is responsible for monitoring the drone footage coming from the gimbal camera and controlling the gimbal. This will need two separate ground control stations for each operator.

Both GCS systems should be connected to the same datalink system (some datalinks have more than one input interface, e.g. serial interface, or in case of Ethernet interface, it can be inherently connected to more than one system). However, it is possible to consider separate links for the video steam and drone control for higher reliability.

Portable, suitcase, or truck ground control station

Portability can be a deciding factor when choosing a ground control station. Portable ground control stations should have a small size, more or less similar to a normal laptop, and have a reasonable weight.

This may come at the expense of less functions compared to a bigger ground control station. Also the battery life may be limited due to the available size. A suitcase GCS or even a GCS set up at the back of a truck can have more sophisticated features and capabilities.

All in one ground control station

In order to control your drone, in addition to the ground control station software that is used to create a flight plan for a drone mission, some physical channels are also required to manually control the drone (with joysticks), or program a predefined plan to be executed with the press of a button.

In order to have such a possibility, a separate radio control is required. On the other hand, all in one ground control stations have integrated the physical channels that are available on a normal radio control into the GCS to make the operator job easier.

Then the physical channels signals can be forwarded to the datalink in the form of a SBUS signal, or being read by the ground control software for further processing.

IP level and protection level of ground control station

To be able to operate the drone in a harsh environment such as under rain, the protection level of the ground control station is important. Having a high IP level to be protected against water and dust. For example M31 Ground control station has an IP level of IP53. Moreover, it is also has an industrial design and is shock proof.

Third party datalink support

Ground Control stations can come with an embedded datalink system, or without one. Being compatible with third party datalinks is an important feature that makes their integration easier.

Moreover, most of the times, the datalink that is installed on the GCS by default does not have a long range communication capability. So being able to change the datalink system to a more powerful model is a feature that should be considered in them.

Ground control station price

The price of ground control station systems can start from as low as 3000$ such M10 GCS and M31 GCS, and go up to 15000$ for suitcase GCS systems such as T50 GCS, or much more for truck GCS systems.