1. About this manual

SkyShield is a ground control station for unmanned aircraft. It plans missions, flies them, shows the aircraft's video, watches that video with on-board AI for people, vehicles, fire, flood and other conditions, and shares the picture with other people on site through an ordinary web browser.

This manual is written for the operator: the person at the ground station during a flight. It has two layers:

• Reference chapters (2 to 13) describe each screen and every control on it.
• Use cases (chapter 14) walk through complete tasks from start to finish.

Names of buttons, menus and settings are printed like this, exactly as they appear on screen. Numbered red circles on a screenshot refer to the numbered rows in the table beneath it.

2. Getting started

2.1 Installing and activating

1. Run the installer, SkyShield-<version>-Setup.exe, and follow its prompts.
2. Start SkyShield. On a computer that has not been activated, the only window that opens is SkyShield — Activation Required. It shows This copy is not activated and a THIS DEVICE ID.
3. Click Save Request… and send the saved file (or read out the device ID) to your SkyShield supplier.
4. When you receive a licence file (.lic), click Import Licence… and select it.
5. When the window shows Licensed — restart to continue, click Restart SkyShield.

The device ID is derived from hashed hardware identifiers. No hardware serial number or network address leaves the computer. A licence is tied to the computer it was issued for and cannot be copied to another.

2.2 The screen at a glance

SkyShield opens in the Fly View. This is where you spend a flight.

The map and the video share the screen side by side. Drag the divider between them to give either one more room (the map can take between a quarter and three quarters of the width). Double-click the video to make it fill the screen, and double-click again to return.

2.3 The application menu

Click the round badge at the top right to open the menu. The rest of the screen dims, but the toolbar and action strip stay usable.

Every page opened from the menu has a back arrow and the page title at the top left. Click it to return to where you were.

Advanced Mode. Hold Shift and click the version number at the bottom of the menu to turn Advanced Mode on or off. It reveals Analyze Tools and some rarely needed options.

2.4 Connecting an aircraft

SkyShield connects by itself to an aircraft that appears on a supported link. Plug in the telemetry radio or autopilot USB cable, or power the aircraft's data link, and wait for the status at the top left to change from No Vehicle Connected.

Open Communication Link from the application menu to control this.

The first time SkyShield loads an aircraft's parameters it shows a progress bar under the toolbar. Wait for it to finish before planning or arming.

2.5 Training without an aircraft

SkyShield can run a flight simulator on the ground station so that an operator can practise with nothing connected. The simulator behaves like a real aircraft in every screen of the application.

1. Open the application menu and choose General. Scroll to Simulation (training).
2. Click Start Simulator. After a few seconds the Fly View shows the simulated aircraft.
3. When you have finished, return to the same page and click Stop Simulator.

The four fields can only be edited while the simulator is stopped. The simulator appears in Communication Link as Simulator (SITL) and can be disconnected there like any other aircraft.

To practise with video and AI as well, play a recorded video file in place of a camera. See 4.2.

3. Fly View

3.1 Toolbar readouts

Readouts never disappear. When a value is not available yet, its place shows -- or N/A, so the toolbar always has the same layout.

Flashing readouts. You can make a readout flash red when it crosses a limit, for example when relative altitude falls below a height or when distance to home exceeds a range. Set the limits in Advanced > Application Settings > Fly View > Telemetry Alerts (11.3).

3.2 Status, flight mode and other drop-downs

Click a readout to open its panel. Click anywhere else, or press Esc, to close it.

The status panel lists recent messages from the aircraft and the state of each sensor (Normal, Disabled or an error). If the aircraft will not arm, look here first: the reason is normally in the messages.

The flight mode list shows every mode the aircraft supports. Click one to command it.

3.3 Compass and attitude display

The outer ring is a compass with the aircraft's heading shown beneath it. The centre is an artificial horizon showing pitch and roll. Drag the display to move it. It floats over the map or the video. Switch it on or off with General > Show compass and HUD.

3.4 Action strip and confirmations

Buttons that cannot be used at the moment are greyed out, not hidden.

Confirming an action

Every action that affects the aircraft shows a confirmation at the top of the screen that says what will happen.

• To go ahead, drag the round handle to the right, or hold the Space bar.
• To cancel, click the X.

3.5 Working on the map

• Move and zoom: drag the map, use the mouse wheel, or use the + and - buttons at the bottom left. The scale bar is beside them.
• The aircraft is drawn as an arrow pointing where it is heading. Its latitude and longitude are printed beside it to six decimal places.
• The mission is drawn as lines between numbered waypoints. The home point is marked.

Click a point on the map to open a panel of actions for that location:

The panel also shows the latitude and longitude of the point clicked. Go to location is limited to the distance set in Application Settings > Fly View > Go To Location Max Distance (1000 m unless changed).

3.6 Changing altitude in flight

Choose Actions > Change Altitude. A box opens with the cursor already in it. Type the new altitude and confirm. Before you confirm, the box states the change in words, for example a climb or descent from the current altitude to the new one and by how much, and it shows the permitted range. Cancel leaves the aircraft as it is. After the command is sent, the Fly View shows the altitude the aircraft reports it is heading for, so you can see that it accepted the value.

3.7 Pre-flight checks

SkyShield can show a checklist before arming. Turn it on with Application Settings > Fly View > Use Preflight Checklist. With Enforce Preflight Checklist also on, the aircraft cannot be armed from SkyShield until every item passes.

The checklist covers battery, GNSS, radio control, sensor health and sound output. For fixed-wing aircraft it also checks terrain following and tells you which of these applies:

• Terrain following is on.
• It is on in some flight modes only.
• It is off, and the aircraft's terrain database is disabled.
• It is off: the aircraft would hold height above home, not above the ground.

4. Video and the camera panel

4.1 Choosing the video source

Open Payload Configuration from the application menu.

4.2 Playing a recorded video file

Set Source to Local Video File and choose a file (mp4, mov, mkv, avi, ts, webm or m4v). The file plays in the Fly View exactly as a live camera would, including AI detection and alerts, and starts again when it reaches the end. Use this for training, for demonstrations, and to see how the AI responds to footage of your own.

4.3 The camera panel

Camera and gimbal controls normally appear only when the aircraft reports that hardware. Turn on General > Show all camera and gimbal controls (no MAVLink needed) to show them all the time, for example to learn where they are. A press still only acts on real hardware.

5. AI detection and alerts

SkyShield examines the video on the ground station itself. Nothing is sent to the internet and no network is needed. It does two separate things:

• Object detection finds people, vehicles, boats, aircraft and animals, draws a box on each, and follows each one from frame to frame.
• Scene assessment judges what is happening in the picture as a whole, such as fire, flooding or a damaged building, and raises an alert.

5.1 What you see on the video

The track number stays with an object for as long as it is followed. If the same number is still on a vehicle a minute later, it is the same vehicle. Boxes are blue normally and orange while an alert is active.

5.2 Alerts

An alert banner reads, in order:

1. Category, such as FIRE ALERT, FLOOD ALERT or PEOPLE ALERT.
2. What was seen, such as Buildings in water.
3. What to do about it, such as Occupants may be cut off - investigate.
4. The evidence: match 0.51 vs 0.01 compares how strongly the picture matches the alert with how strongly it matches the things most often mistaken for it. A wide gap is a strong alert. Then the number of people or vehicles counted in the affected area, and a confidence percentage.

How alerts behave:

• One alert at a time. A burning building could be described as fire, smoke and a building on fire all at once. SkyShield shows the most serious and treats the others as supporting detail.
• Alerts that name an object need that object. Person in water is raised only when the detector has also found a person.
• Alerts about movement need movement. Person not moving or Vehicle convoy are decided from how tracked objects move relative to the rest of the scene.
• Spoken alerts. Alerts are read aloud by a voice that runs on this computer. The same kind of alert is not repeated until the Minimum gap between announcements has passed.
• While an alert is up, boxes are drawn only for objects inside the affected area, so that you can see what is in it.

Appendix A lists every alert with its severity.

5.3 AI Detection settings

Open AI Detection from the application menu.

Object classes. Click the Classes pill and tick the kinds of object you want. The choices are person, bicycle, car, motorcycle, airplane, bus, train, truck, boat, bird, cat, dog, horse, sheep, cow, elephant, bear, zebra and giraffe. Until you change anything, people, vehicles and boats are detected and animals are not, because animal detections from the air are mostly wrong.

5.4 Autonomous actions

By default the AI only watches and reports. The Autonomous Actions section lets you permit it to act, one kind of action at a time.

All are off unless you turn them on. Detection, alerts and logging continue whatever these switches say.

5.5 Records

SkyShield keeps AI logs in an AILogs folder in its data folder. They include the score of every alert on every pass, whether or not it was raised. These files are useful when reviewing a flight and when reporting a missed or false alert to support.

6. Visual tracking and gimbal follow

Visual tracking follows anything you point out on the video. It does not depend on AI detection and does not need the object to be of a known type.

1. Click Track in the camera panel. The video shows Drag on the video to select a target.
2. Drag a box tightly around the target.
3. SkyShield follows that patch of the picture and draws the box as it moves.
4. Click Track again to stop.

6.1 Making the gimbal follow the target

Tracking alone only draws a box. Gimbal follow moves the camera to keep the target centred, by sending radio-channel commands to the gimbal. It is set up once, in Advanced > Application Settings > Follow.

With follow enabled, further options set the response of each axis (gains and inversion). The roll axis is for gimbals mounted sideways. Its gains start at zero so that it does nothing until you set it up.

7. Plan View

Plan View is where you build a mission: the route the aircraft flies by itself. Open it with Plan in the action strip.

7.1 Creating a plan

1. Click Create. If a plan is already on screen you are asked whether to replace it.
2. Answer How should altitude be measured? Choose Terrain to keep the same height above the ground below the aircraft, or Relative to Launch to hold a fixed height above the take-off point.
3. Enter the altitude new waypoints should fly at, and click Start.
4. Click on the map where you want the aircraft to fly. Each click adds a waypoint. Undo removes the last one.
5. Click Done.

The Create panel also offers Pattern tools such as a survey over an area, and layers for a Fence (an area the aircraft must stay inside) and Safe Landing points. An area can be traced on the map or loaded from a KML or shapefile.

Two tools build a route for you:

• Auto Plan covers the geofence, an existing survey area, or a square around the centre of the map, in that order of preference. Altitude and sweep direction are worked out for you.
• Route To builds a route from the aircraft (or from the planned home when no aircraft is connected) to a point you click. Altitude and speed are chosen for you.

A route built this way is shown as a proposal. Click Use as Mission to accept it or Dismiss to discard it.

7.2 Editing in the mission table

Click a row to select it. The selected step is highlighted on the map, and any extra values that the command needs can be edited for that row. Center, above the table, brings the mission into the middle of the map.

7.3 Terrain check

The route is drawn green where it is clear and red where it would hit the ground. SkyShield checks the whole path between waypoints against terrain height, not only the waypoints themselves, so a line that clips a hill between two safe waypoints is caught. Fix every red section before uploading: raise the altitude, move the waypoint, or switch the plan to terrain-relative altitude.

7.4 Uploading and flying

1. Click Upload and wait for Done.
2. Return to the Fly View. The mission is drawn on the map.
3. Choose Actions > Start Mission and confirm.

You can plan while the aircraft is flying. A plan started in the air does not need a take-off step.

8. 3D view

The 3D view replaces the flat map with a three-dimensional globe showing real terrain, the aircraft and its path.

1. Turn on General > Show 3D view. This is needed once.
2. In the Fly View or Plan View, click 3D View. Click it again to return to the flat map.

8.1 In the Fly View

The 3D view takes over the main area of the Fly View. The toolbar, action strip and camera panel stay in place, so every flight control remains available. The camera follows the aircraft. Drag to look around and use the mouse wheel to zoom, then click Recenter on Vehicle to return. The mission is drawn as a line through numbered points at their real heights.

8.2 In Plan View

The mission is previewed over the terrain, even with no aircraft connected. This is the quickest way to see whether a route clears a ridge, and how high a step really is compared with the ground around it. The mission table is reduced to its row numbers while the preview is open. Click 3D View again to edit the plan.

Terrain is shown at about 30 m resolution for the area in view.

Map imagery and terrain that you have already viewed or downloaded are used without an internet connection. The first time the 3D view is opened on a computer it needs an internet connection to load its display component.

9. Remote Video Terminal

The Remote Video Terminal lets other people watch the aircraft's video on a phone, tablet or laptop by opening a web page. There is nothing to install on their device. The aircraft is not involved: the ground station shares a copy of the video it is already receiving. Viewers can only watch. They cannot command the aircraft.

9.1 Turning it on

Open Video Terminal from the application menu.

1. Turn on Enable Remote Video Terminal.
2. Decide how viewers will reach the ground station (9.2).
3. Have each viewer scan the code, or send them the link with Copy link.

Changing the port or the viewer limit restarts the service and disconnects everyone watching.

9.2 Three ways for viewers to connect

The ground station's own Wi-Fi network

Use this when there is no network on site. Turn on Broadcast a Wi-Fi network for viewers. Two codes appear:

1. 1. JOIN — the viewer scans this first and their phone offers to join the network. The network name and password are printed beneath it.
2. 2. WATCH — the viewer scans this second and the video page opens.

The order matters: a phone cannot open the page until it has joined the network.

An existing network

If the viewers are already on the same wired or wireless network as the ground station, leave broadcasting off. One code appears, SCAN TO WATCH. If the ground station has more than one network address, the others are listed so that you can give a viewer the one they can reach.

From another site, over a VPN

Put the ground station and the remote viewers on the same private network (VPN), then send them the link with Copy link. Start the VPN before enabling the Video Terminal, or turn the Video Terminal off and on again afterwards.

9.3 What a viewer sees

The map shows the aircraft pointing the way it is heading (green when armed), its recent track, flight mode, altitude, ground speed and position. Buttons at the bottom right follow the aircraft and zoom. Alerts appear as a banner in the same colours as on the ground station.

Each viewer's choices affect only their own screen. The map shows the areas the operator has already viewed on the ground station. Other areas appear as blank squares when the ground station has no internet connection.

9.4 Security

• The link contains an access key that is created fresh each time the service starts. A link from an earlier session does not work.
• The connection is not encrypted by SkyShield. It relies on the network underneath: the Wi-Fi password, your own network, or the VPN.
• Do not expose the ground station directly to the internet.
• Turn the Video Terminal off when you have finished.

10. Flight replay and Analyze Tools

10.1 Replaying a flight

SkyShield records the telemetry of every flight, and the video when you record it, in a folder named for that flight.

1. Turn on General > Show Flight Replay Bar. A bar appears along the bottom of the window.
2. Choose the flight from the list. Flights are named by aircraft, flight number and date. Browse... opens a log file directly.
3. Press play. The telemetry replays in the Fly View as if the aircraft were connected, and the recorded video starts with it.
4. Click Close when finished.

Dragging the slider moves the telemetry only. The video does not jump with it. Older logs recorded before flights had their own folders are listed without a flight number.

10.2 Analyze Tools

Shown in the application menu when Advanced Mode is on (2.3).

11. Settings reference

11.1 General

11.2 Maps

11.3 Application Settings

Open with Advanced > Application Settings. Pages are listed down the left side.

Fly View

Telemetry Alerts. Each row has a switch and a limit. When the switch is on, the matching toolbar readout flashes red whenever the value crosses the limit. Ground Speed below, Air Speed below, Relative Alt below and Terrain Alt below warn when there is too little. Distance To Home above, Flight Distance above and Time In Air above (sec) warn when there is too much. Limits are in the units the readout is showing.

Plan View

Maps (advanced)

Access tokens for map providers that need an account, the address of a custom map server, and the size of the map cache on disk and in memory.

Follow

Gimbal follow. See chapter 6.

Telemetry

ADSB Server and Remote ID

ADSB Server connects to a receiver that reports nearby crewed aircraft, which are then drawn on the map. Remote ID configures the identification broadcast that some regulators require, for aircraft fitted with a Remote ID module.

Keyboard - RC Mapping

Lets keys on the keyboard drive radio channels, for example to steer a gimbal or operate a payload. For each of channels 1 to 16 choose a key that pushes the channel one way, optionally a key that pushes it the other way, the Idle value sent when no key is held, and the Step by which a held key moves it. Keyboard control acts only while Keyboard is on in the camera panel.

Console and Help

Console shows the application's own diagnostic messages. Save App Log writes them to a file to send to support. Help lists reference links.

12. Vehicle Configuration

Open with Advanced > Vehicle Configuration while an aircraft is connected. These pages set up the aircraft itself. Changes are stored in the autopilot.

On the Parameters page, click a parameter to change it. Tools saves all parameters to a file, loads them from a file, or compares the aircraft with a file. Keep a saved copy of a known good configuration for every aircraft.

13. Updates, licence and configuration files

13.1 Updates

In General > Updates (Figure 11.1).

• An update is never installed while an aircraft is armed. Install Now is refused until it is disarmed.
• A download is checked against the published size and fingerprint before it can be installed. A file that does not match is not installed.
• Updates are large (several hundred megabytes). On a metered connection, turn automatic download off and use Check Now when convenient.

13.2 Licence

Open Licence from the application menu. The page shows:

• The licence status in green when valid, with Licensed to, Expires and Features.
• A warning when the licence expires within 14 days.
• Device ID, with Save licence request… and Import licence… for renewing or changing a licence.

The features of a licence decide which parts of the AI layer run: detection, scene conditions, alerts and autonomous actions. A licence without AI features still gives the full ground station. If AI detection will not start although it is enabled, check here that the licence includes it.

13.3 Configuration files

General > Configuration file copies settings between ground stations so that a fleet is set up once.

1. On the station that is set up as you want, click Save configuration... and choose where to save the file.
2. On each other station, click Load configuration... and select the file.
3. Restart SkyShield on that station for all settings to take effect.

Licence and activation are never included. Each station needs its own licence.

14. Use cases, step by step

14.1 A first flight, from power-on to landing

1. Start SkyShield. Power the aircraft and its data link. Wait for the status to leave No Vehicle Connected and for parameter loading to finish.
2. Read the toolbar: GNSS has a lock with a low HDOP, LINK is high, Drone Battery is full.
3. Click the status. Read the vehicle messages and confirm the sensors show Normal.
4. Check the video is showing and, if you use AI, that the AI status line has a green dot.
5. Open Plan, build or load the mission, clear any red sections, and Upload (chapter 7).
6. Back in the Fly View, complete the pre-flight checklist if it is in use.
7. Choose Actions > Start Mission. Read the confirmation, check the area is clear, and slide.
8. During the flight, watch altitude, distance to home, link and battery. Use Pause to hold and Actions > Continue Mission to resume.
9. To end early, click Return and confirm.
10. After landing, confirm the aircraft has disarmed, or click Disarm.

14.2 Searching for a missing person

Goal: cover an area and be told when a person, or a sign of one, comes into view.

1. In AI Detection, turn on Enable AI detection. In Classes, tick Person and the vehicle types. Leave animals unticked.
2. Set Bounding boxes to All objects. Choose an alert voice and make sure audio is not muted.
3. In Plan View, trace or load the search area and use Auto Plan or a survey pattern to cover it. Choose terrain-relative altitude over hills. Check the route in 3D View.
4. Fly the mission. Give the video most of the screen by dragging the divider.
5. On an alert such as Person seen, Person not moving, Signs of someone camping or Ground signal, click Pause.
6. Use Zoom and the gimbal to confirm. To keep the camera on the spot, click the location on the map and choose ROI at location.
7. Choose Mark location on the map and read the coordinates to the ground team.
8. Resume with Actions > Continue Mission.

14.3 Assessing a fire or a flood

1. Enable AI detection as above. Consider Bounding boxes: Only critical objects, so that boxes appear only for people and vehicles inside an affected area.
2. Fly towards the incident from upwind and at a safe height. Watch for Power lines and Mast or tower hazard alerts and Poor visibility.
3. Read each alert's action text: Building on fire — Investigate for occupants, Road under water — Route may be impassable, People cut off by water — Investigate immediately.
4. The count in the banner tells you how many people or vehicles are inside the affected area.
5. Click Record to keep the footage and Photo for stills.
6. Mark blocked roads and damaged bridges on the map for the teams planning access.

14.4 Giving the incident commander a live picture

1. Open Video Terminal and turn on Enable Remote Video Terminal.
2. With no site network, turn on Broadcast a Wi-Fi network for viewers. Have the commander scan 1. JOIN, then 2. WATCH.
3. On the page, they choose Split to see video and map together.
4. Confirm Viewers connected has gone up and Video reads Receiving from aircraft.
5. For someone at headquarters, use a VPN and send them the link with Copy link.
6. Turn the Video Terminal off at the end of the operation.

14.5 Keeping the camera on a moving vehicle

1. Once, on the ground: set up Follow with the gimbal's channels, Dry run on, and confirm the direction of movement (chapter 6). Then turn Dry run off.
2. In flight, click Track and drag a box around the vehicle.
3. The gimbal keeps it centred. If the target is lost for longer than Stop after target lost, the gimbal is released and you select again.
4. Click Track to stop.

14.6 Rehearsing at a desk

1. In Payload Configuration, set Source to Local Video File and choose a recorded aerial video.
2. In General, click Start Simulator.
3. Plan, upload and fly a mission exactly as you would for real. Practise pausing, changing altitude, returning, and responding to alerts.
4. Click Stop Simulator when done and set the video source back to your camera.

14.7 Reviewing a flight afterwards

1. Turn on General > Show Flight Replay Bar.
2. Pick the flight by aircraft, number and date, and press play.
3. Watch the flight unfold on the map with the recorded video alongside.
4. For a deeper look, download the aircraft's own log with Analyze Tools > Log Download.

14.8 Preparing for a site with no internet

1. While connected, open Maps > Add New Set and download the operating area at the zoom levels you will use.
2. Open Plan View over the area, and open the 3D view once, so that terrain for the area is stored.
3. Check General > Updates and install any pending update now, not in the field.
4. Check Licence for the expiry date.

15. Troubleshooting

When contacting support, include the SkyShield version (bottom of the application menu), a description of what you did and saw, the application log from Application Settings > Console > Save App Log, and for AI or Video Terminal problems the contents of the AILogs folder.

Appendix A. Alert reference

Severity runs from Info (for awareness) through Advisory and High to Critical (act now).

Appendix B. Glossary