Downloading and Analyzing Solo Logs

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ATTEMPT AT YOUR OWN RISK! I suggest following these instructions only if you're knowledgeable about computers and understand the risks. This works for me; no guarantee for you.

I wanted to post a way to download Solo telemetry and dataflash logs for analysis with Mission Planner, since there's a lot of confusion about this feature. It's pretty straightforward and not that difficult.

For Windows:
Download and install Mission Planner: Installing Mission Planner — Mission Planner documentation

Download and install winSCP: winscp.net/download/winscp573setup.exe

Turn on Solo and controller. Wait for the Solo to finish setting up, then connect your computer's wifi to the SSID "sololink", or whatever you named it. Same one you use to connect your phone/tablet to your Solo. If it asks for a pin, select instead to use password. Use whatever password you use to connect your phone/tablet. Factory default is "sololink", all lower case.

Once wifi is connected, open winSCP. Connect to your Solo using the following:
  • File protocol: SCP
  • Solo Controller Host IP address (host name): 10.1.1.10
  • Port number: 22
  • User name: root
  • Password: TjSDBkAu
Note, host name for the Solo is 10.1.1.10, and host name for the controller is 10.1.1.1. If you connect to the controller, you will not find the dataflash logs, only the telemetry logs (and a few other miscellaneous logs/files). You need to connect to the Solo.

When connected, the winSCP is split in two panels, left and right. The right side is the Solo, the left side is your computer. Take note the location of the folder to where you want to transfer your log files. Be careful not to delete or alter any folders or files in Solo!

The right panel will probably be blank, with only two dots and the up arrow. Double click on the two dots and it will take you to the root folder. Double click again on the two dots and it will take you to the page with a lot of folders. Look down the list for a folder named "logs." Open it. Scroll down and you will see files named "RECENT-*.BIN", where the * is a number. These are the dataflash files. Each one represents a flight. Highlight all of those files and copy over to your desired computer folder. You can do the same for the "tlogs", which are the telemetry logs. The dataflash logs have MUCH more data and can analyze problems with more specificity, but they are also more complicated.

Once you've transferred the files to your computer you are done with winSCP and your Solo. You can exit winSCP and power down your Solo.

For dataflash logs, open Mission Planner. On the left side of the window are two boxes, one over the other. Top is the horizon picture, the bottom shows data, probably all zeros since you're not connected. In between these two boxes is a row of tabs. Select "Dataflash Logs." Since you've already downloaded your dataflash bin files, you will mostly be interested in "Auto Analysis" and "Review a Log" buttons.

Open Auto Analysis. It will ask you for a file name, just navigate to your saved RECENT-*.BIN files and select the one you want. This will look at all your data for a specific flight and give you a quick synopsis of the status of your flight. Sometimes this will immediately show you what went wrong with a flight, but sometimes it just tells you the flight went bad. For deeper analysis, use "Review a Log".

For "Review a Log", navigate to the RECENT-*.BIN file of choice and select it. This screen will show you a graphing box along the top, and all the data below. Most useful is the vertical box on the right side of the window with a column of expandable items. You can spend a lifetime learning how to analyze the dataflash logs, but after a while you'll pick up on your favorites. Here's an example.

DesRoll.jpg

I expanded the ATT item and selected "DesRoll", which stands for desired roll. This shows what your controls on your controller were telling the Solo, i.e., how you were moving the sticks and other controls. It is plotted in the graph box in red.

I then select "Roll" under ATT, and it plots what the Solo actually did in green. The red is what you wanted the Solo to do, and the green is how the Solo responded. If they closely parallel each other it is a good flight.

Roll.jpg

Note that the commands, in red, closely map to the green, which is what the Solo actually did. That shows that for the roll feature, this was a good flight. The Solo did just what I told it to do. This only maps the "roll" command, but you can do the same with pitch and yaw (e.g., DesPitch, Pitch) which will give a more complete picture when taken together. Also note that the flight modes are plotted along the timeline at the points where they were executed. This, for example, will tell you if and when your Solo switched into Return To Launch mode.

Learn how to use the graphing and all the settings at the Mission Planner log analysis link, below. BE CAREFUL about changing mavlink parameters, as the instructions were meant for APM and earlier PIXHAWK flight controllers. They may or may not work with the Solo. I recommend making no changes to the parameters unless well-versed in the settings.

To look at the telemetry logs, close out the dataflash log window. On the same tab line, select "Telemetry Logs" and navigate to your desired tlog saved on your computer. The telemetry logs are fairly straightforward and will show you an actual recording of your flight telemetry. Most seem to pick up on the telemetry logs fairly quickly.

For Apple people (which includes me), the Mac should already have an SCP application factory loaded. I haven't used it, so I can't give detailed instructions, but it looks similar to above.

To read the full details of all of the above, including instructions for Mac, go to:

Downloading logs: https://dev.3dr.com/advanced-logs.html

Mission Planner log analysis: Downloading and Analyzing Data Logs in Mission Planner — Copter documentation
 
Last edited:
Oh dude... I was totally going to do this right now, then I realized that I am downloading a new Win 10 iso and I need to leave it connected to the internetty wifi. I'm going to do it in the morning. Thanks for the write up. Looks great.
 
so the recent.bin files are 1kb shortcuts... There was a folder called dataflash full of .BIN files so I just pulled that whole thing and I am going to try to load the files in MP now.
 
so the recent.bin files are 1kb shortcuts... There was a folder called dataflash full of .BIN files so I just pulled that whole thing and I am going to try to load the files in MP now.
Yes, they are shortcuts, but when you highlight the recent.bin files, drag-and-copy into your desired computer folder, the complete files will transfer, not just the 1Kb shortcuts.
 
How can I make the IMX6 computer fetch dataflashlogs from the SD card in the cube ?
- OpenSolo-dev 4.0 erased what little was in IMX6, there are 500 logs in the SD..
 

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