Tools

Settings

SET at the bottom of the left rail. Everything applies at once and is saved, in ~/.corvus/config.json. This page goes through the sections in the order they appear.

Appearance

Language

The language of the interface: English, German or French, from a dropdown, with Reload languages beside it. Switching is instant, with no reload. The first start setup opens in the browser's own language when Corvus has a file for it, and offers the choice in its first step, Look. A text that a language does not translate stays English. More languages can be added without touching the program, see Adding a language.

Company logo

A PNG of your own, shown in the top right of the window.

Colour theme

Six themes, two light and four dark: Light (the default), Light Orange, Blue, Green, Orange and Pink. Switching is instant, with no reload and no flash, and the map, the plots and the instruments all follow.

Interface size

One slider from 80 % to 150 % that scales the whole app, for a small laptop screen or a bright field where you want everything larger.

Units

A unit system (metric, imperial, aviation) that sets altitude and length, distance, speed and temperature at once, and each of the four on its own afterwards. Units are for display only: parameters, mission files and everything sent to the aircraft stay in the units the autopilot uses.

Pages

Adds MISSION under HOME in the left rail. Off by default. See Mission planner.

Side panel

MAVLink console tab and SSH tab, both on by default. Off, the tab is gone from the side panel. Console messages are still collected and still go into the export on the Logs page; saved SSH connections stay saved and plugins still use them, and a terminal opens in a window of its own instead. LINK and PLUGINS cannot be switched off.

Adding a language

A language is one JSON file named after its code, such as es.json. It maps the English text of the interface, copied exactly, to its translation:

{
  "meta": { "name": "Spanish", "native_name": "Español" },
  "strings": {
    "Settings": "Ajustes",
    "Settings of {name}": "Ajustes de {name}"
  }
}

• Where it goes. Into ~/.corvus/languages, which Corvus creates with a README the first time Settings is opened, or into src/lang in a checkout, next to de.json and fr.json. The folder under your home survives updates, and a file there with the code of a language that ships with Corvus replaces it. Press Reload languages after copying one in.
• No ids. The English text is the key. A text the file does not list stays English, so a file can start small and grow.
• {name} in an English text matches whatever stands in that place, and the same {name} in the translation puts it back. What it matched is translated too, when the file has an entry for it. A label that ends in an autopilot parameter, such as Action on RC loss (NAV_RCL_ACT), is translated by the label alone.
• Finding the texts. python3 tools/i18n.py new es Spanish Español writes a file with every text the other languages list, each blank. To see what is still English on screen, open Corvus in the language, go through the pages and run copy(JSON.stringify(Corvus.i18n.template(), null, 2)) in the browser console. python3 tools/i18n.py check reads every file and reports a placeholder that does not match.

Map service

Which map service and which of its layers. It can also be switched from the layer control on the map itself.

API keys is the button that takes a key. The key never reaches the browser: Corvus fetches the tiles itself and hands the images to the page, so the key stays in the config file (readable by you alone), never appears in a page, a URL or a log line, and is never sent back out by the API. The Settings page is only told that a key is saved. You will not see it again after saving; REMOVE clears it.

Flown track

Earlier flights in their own colour (on by default), a colour of its own for each earlier flight (off by default), and clearing the track whenever Corvus starts or the autopilot reboots (off by default). See The flown track.

Controls

The virtual joystick, USB gamepad, arrow keys and WASD keys, each its own switch and all off by default, and the key strength slider. See Manual controls.

Flight bar

Shrink with the window, off by default. On, the ARM, TAKEOFF, LAND, RETURN and PLAN bar steps down as soon as it would cover more than half the map: to the width of each word first, then to icons alone. It is measured on the map itself, so opening the side panel narrows it just as shrinking the window does. Separate Takeoff and Land buttons, off by default. Off, the bar has one button: TAKEOFF while the aircraft is on the ground, LAND once it is flying, and the takeoff card opens only from TAKEOFF. On, TAKEOFF and LAND are two buttons and the one that does not apply is greyed.

Flight HUD

Show the flight HUD, on by default. Off, the window with the compass, the attitude indicator and the readouts is taken off the Home map. Turned back on, it returns where you left it. Square HUD corners, off by default. Off, the window has a rounded top; on, all four corners are square. The bar with the pin and size buttons sits in the same place either way. See The flight HUD.

Map tools

Show the distance tool, on by default. Off, the ruler button is taken off the Home map's right-hand bar. See Measuring a distance.

Map animation

Aircraft on the map, 60 Hz by default. How many times a second the aircraft on the map move, in 3D with their height line and shadow. 30 Hz needs about a third less CPU in 3D, which matters on a laptop running on its battery; 60 Hz moves them more smoothly. The flight instruments and moving the map by hand always run at the display's full rate.

Compass

Lock compass nose up. Off, the compass is north up; on, the rose turns and the top of the dial is always the aircraft's heading.

Top bar

Status dots, off by default: a dot after the VEHICLE, STATUS, GPS and BATTERY captions, green good, amber caution, red fault, grey nothing to report. The values already carry that colour; the dots let you scan the bar by colour alone. Altitude picks AMSL or relative to home for the ALTITUDE block. Show altitude, Show groundspeed and Show climb rate are on by default; switch one off to take that block off the bar. Show distance sensor is off by default: it adds the reading of a downward distance sensor to the altitude card, and only while it is on does Corvus ask the vehicle for it. Hovering over ALTITUDE, GPS or BATTERY opens a card with more detail: for altitude, AMSL, the height above home and the GPS altitude.

Notifications

Severity marks, off by default: coloured bars above and below the level icon of a notification, blue for information, amber for a warning, red for a fault.

Camera and terminal windows

Open inside the Corvus window (off by default), Corvus title bar (off by default) and Solid terminals. See Floating windows.

App icon

Inverted app icon uses the black mark instead of the white one for the Dock (macOS) or taskbar (Linux), better on a light dock. Icon backplate draws the mark on a filled rounded square so it is visible on a dock of any shade. Neither changes anything but the icon.

SSH Connections

Add, connect and remove saved SSH hosts. The same list is used by the SSH tab and the launcher plugins.

Connection

Shows the saved MAVLink connection and the HTTP port. To change the link, use the LINK tab (see Connect to the aircraft).

Files

Parameter export folder: where Export writes parameter files. Leave it empty for ~/.corvus/params; the export dialog can still choose another place per file. The other folders Corvus uses are set in the config file; see where Corvus keeps its files.

Parameter defaults

Keep a copy on this computer, off by default. The parameter editor reads each parameter's default from the vehicle, and on PX4 that file can take half a minute over a telemetry radio. With this on, Corvus keeps a copy per firmware and reuses it whenever the vehicle reports the same checksum for its file. ArduPilot always reads from the vehicle.

Analysis

Sensitivity of the flight review: Relaxed, Normal or Strict. See Sensitivity.

Plugins

What Corvus found in both plugin folders, Open plugin folder, which opens your own, and Reload plugins, which loads what is in the folders now: a plugin you added, changed or deleted takes effect without a restart. See Plugins.

A plugin with settings has a gear beside its version, which opens them in a dialog. A change is saved at once. A plugin that can have a tab of its own (Schwalby and the NuttX Console can) has Own tab there: on, it gets a tab in the side panel, placed before PLUGINS, and its card under PLUGINS goes; off (the default), it is a card. PLUGINS is always the last tab. See Plugin settings.

Export and import

The settings of the station in one JSON file, for a backup or for setting up the next laptop. That includes the window layout (where the flight HUD and the virtual joystick sit), the RC transmitter bindings, the checklists, the plugins and the company logo.

• By part. Both directions go by part (interface, window layout, map, connections, vehicle, folders, plugins), with All and None to start from. A part left out of the file is never touched on import.
• Plugins by plugin. Under Plugins you choose, per plugin, its Settings and its Files (the plugin itself, for one you installed). The plugins that ship with Corvus are on every station already, so only their settings travel.
• Secrets stay out, unless you switch them on: passwords and map keys are not in the file by default, and an import without them keeps the ones already stored for the same host.
• Import shows what the file holds, warns before it installs plugin files, and is refused while the aircraft is armed.

About

The version, the live connection summary, and Credits, which lists every bundled component and its licence.

Updates

A switch, on by default, that compares the running version with the published releases on GitHub and shows a notice when a newer one exists, plus Check now. SET in the left rail carries a marker while a newer release is waiting.

• Nothing is downloaded and nothing about your machine is sent.
• With no internet the check fails silently.
• The notice never appears while the aircraft is armed.
• Skip this version stops it coming back for that release.