How to Get Drone Attitude Using DroneKit: Simple Guide

Use the vehicle.attitude attribute in DroneKit to get the drone's current attitude, which includes roll, pitch, and yaw angles. Access these values after connecting to the vehicle to monitor its orientation.

Syntax

The vehicle.attitude attribute returns an object containing the drone's orientation angles in radians.

• roll: Rotation around the front-to-back axis.
• pitch: Rotation around the side-to-side axis.
• yaw: Rotation around the vertical axis (compass direction).

These values update in real-time when connected to the drone.

python

attitude = vehicle.attitude
roll = attitude.roll
pitch = attitude.pitch
yaw = attitude.yaw

Example

This example connects to a drone using DroneKit, waits for the vehicle to be ready, then prints the current attitude (roll, pitch, yaw) in radians.

python

from dronekit import connect
import time

# Connect to the vehicle (replace '127.0.0.1:14550' with your connection string)
vehicle = connect('127.0.0.1:14550', wait_ready=True)

# Wait a moment to ensure attitude data is available
time.sleep(1)

# Get the attitude
attitude = vehicle.attitude

print(f"Roll: {attitude.roll}")
print(f"Pitch: {attitude.pitch}")
print(f"Yaw: {attitude.yaw}")

# Close vehicle connection
vehicle.close()

Output

Roll: 0.012345
Pitch: -0.023456
Yaw: 1.570796

Common Pitfalls

1. Not waiting for the vehicle to be ready: Accessing vehicle.attitude before the vehicle is fully connected can return None or stale data.

2. Using incorrect connection strings: Make sure the connection string matches your drone's communication method (e.g., UDP, serial).

3. Confusing radians with degrees: The attitude angles are in radians; convert to degrees if needed using math.degrees().

python

import math

# Wrong: Using attitude before ready
# attitude = vehicle.attitude  # May be None if vehicle not ready

# Right: Wait for vehicle to be ready
vehicle.wait_ready('attitude')
attitude = vehicle.attitude
roll_deg = math.degrees(attitude.roll)
print(f"Roll in degrees: {roll_deg}")

Quick Reference

• vehicle.attitude: Get current attitude object.
• attitude.roll: Roll angle in radians.
• attitude.pitch: Pitch angle in radians.
• attitude.yaw: Yaw angle in radians.
• Use math.degrees() to convert radians to degrees.
• Always wait for vehicle readiness before accessing attitude.

Key Takeaways

Use vehicle.attitude to access drone orientation angles roll, pitch, and yaw.

Wait for the vehicle to be ready before reading attitude data to avoid errors.

Attitude angles are in radians; convert to degrees if needed for easier understanding.

Ensure your connection string matches your drone's communication method.

Close the vehicle connection after finishing to free resources.