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RotorLab GC

RotorLab GC is a full MAVLink ground control station: mission planning, live telemetry, video, and guided commands for multirotor, VTOL, fixed-wing, and quadplane aircraft, on Windows and Android. What sets it apart is first-class ATAK integration, so your aircraft and your ground team share one common operating picture.

It flies ArduPilot and PX4 autopilots over USB, telemetry radio, or a network link, and all airframe classes fly from the same screen.

Native ATAK and OpenTAKServer#

Your aircraft belongs on the map your ground team already has open, and that map can fly it back.

  • Every aircraft on the tactical map. Each aircraft is published as a MIL-STD-2525 air track, parented to your ground station, by broadcast or direct addressing. Your team sees the aircraft on the map they already have open.
  • Command by ATAK. A map marker named GOTO 2 ALT 400 SPD 5 commands the aircraft exactly as a controller would, with per-verb permissions and a master arm, so you decide what the map is allowed to do.
  • Approved pilots only. Restrict who may send commands to a named list of ATAK callsigns or devices. Being on the network is not the same as being allowed to fly the aircraft.
  • Certificates, handled. Enroll a client certificate over OpenTAKServer with mutual TLS, or import your own truststore and client key when your organization issues its own.

Configuration lives in Settings, then TAK / ATAK: point it at your server, enroll a client certificate, and every aircraft on the station starts publishing.

Plan, fly, watch#

Mission planning, real-time instruments, and video sit in one window, with an interface tuned for working outside rather than at a desk. The Plan view holds takeoff, survey patterns, return to launch, fences, and rally points on the same screen.

Instead of a list of ports, aircraft live on a roster: give each aircraft a callsign, tail number, and video-feed URL, and the feed hands off straight to ATAK for playback. Connected and saved aircraft sit together.

Checklists#

Pre-flight checklists record what was checked, and you can close one and fly at any point. Nothing in the station is allowed to hold up a launch.

Filing flights into RotorLab#

Running more than one ground station, or more than one crew? The TAK Fleet Server is the hub they all report into: one map for every crew, and with a RotorLab Device Key it files the flights to your logbook in RotorLab too. The Fleet Connector screen in RotorLab GC shows the connection status, the crew callsign, and the crew code an ATAK operator can address, and the Who is flying dialog lists pilots from your RotorLab roster with currency warnings. The crew can still skip it and fly; the flight is logged either way.

Platforms#

  • Windows 10 and 11, as an installer or portable.
  • Android tablets and phones on arm64.

The same station runs on the bench and in the vehicle.

Licensing and purchase#

RotorLab GC is free, and a license key comes with every download from the shop at https://shop.rotorlab.app. Install it, enter the key on the activation screen, and fly.

  • One key per install: one is generated and delivered per order.
  • Move it whenever you like: deactivate a key from Settings, then License, and use it on another device.

For a fleet, request a quote at https://rotorlab.app/quote.