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Install and enroll the collector

Install the Foxborne collector on a vehicle's companion computer and register it with your deployment using a one-time token. It then uploads journal units and process samples on its own.

How-toEvery deploymentAdminMarkdown
On this page7

The collector is optional. Foxborne works from imported files alone. Install it when you want every run's companion evidence to arrive without anyone exporting a journal by hand, and when you want process samples with clock status on every sample.

Before you start#

  • You need the Admin role. Only admins can manage sources and collectors.
  • The companion computer runs a Debian-based Linux on arm64, such as Ubuntu 22.04 on an NVIDIA Jetson module, and can install packages from your internal mirror.
  • The vehicle can open an outbound HTTPS connection to your deployment while it is on the ground. Nothing needs to connect to the vehicle.
  • chrony runs on the companion computer and reaches a time source. Without it the collector still uploads, but the evidence stays on the companion's own clock.

Enroll a vehicle#

  1. Open the vehicle's enroll drawer

    In the console, go to Sources and open the Vehicle collectors tab. Vehicles that have never been enrolled show Not installed in the Collector column and Not enrolled under State.

    Select Enroll on the vehicle's row. The drawer Enroll vehicle opens with the three steps below, filled in for that vehicle and its host name. The Enroll a vehicle button at the top of the page opens the same drawer for the first vehicle that is not enrolled yet.

  2. Install the package

    On the companion computer, install the collector package from your internal package mirror. The package is signed with the Foxborne release key.

    On the companion computerShell
    sudo apt install ./foxborne-collector_0.8.1_arm64.deb

  3. Register with the one-time token

    Copy the command from the drawer with Copy command and run it on the same computer. It carries your deployment's address, the vehicle ID and a token that works once and expires 30 minutes after the drawer shows it.

    On the companion computerExample values from the drawer for UGV-04Shell
    sudo foxborne-collector enroll \
  --server https://foxborne.hfr.internal \
  --vehicle UGV-04 \
  --token fxe_afd0de1936672610860ca702

    The collector exchanges the token for a certificate that belongs to this vehicle alone. Every later connection uses that certificate over mutual TLS.

  4. Wait for the first upload

    The drawer reads Waiting for host to connect and updates on its own. When the first segment arrives, the vehicle's row changes to Online, Last upload shows the time, and the Clock column shows chrony's offset, for example Synced +0.8 ms.

Check the result#

ColumnWhat you should seeWhat it means
Collector0.8.1The installed version. Older versions add No SYSTEM_TIME.
ClockSynced +0.8 mschrony is synchronized; the value is its offset.
Local spoolNoneNothing is waiting on the vehicle. A bar shows megabytes held against the 100 MB budget.
Last uploadA time within the last segmentUploads arrive after each segment the collector closes.
Dropped0No samples were discarded.
StateOnlineConnected and reporting.

The status bar at the bottom of every screen counts collectors too: 13 of 15 collectors reporting, with a green dot only when every enrolled collector is online.

Troubleshoot#

The token has expired. Tokens work once and last 30 minutes. Open the vehicle's Enroll drawer again and run the new command.

Clock shows Not synchronised. chrony has no reachable time source. The collector keeps uploading, but the journal and process samples stay on the companion's own clock and have no position on the map. Run chronyc tracking on the vehicle: Leap status : Not synchronised confirms it. Fix the time source, or align the clock by hand for runs already recorded.

State shows Buffering. The vehicle has no uplink, for example behind terrain, and is spooling locally. Uploads resume on their own when the link returns. Nothing is lost unless the spool budget fills.

Dropped shows a number. The spool budget filled while the vehicle was offline. The collector discards the oldest low-priority samples first and writes a lost-data marker where they were, so the gap is visible on the timeline instead of silent. Raise the budget in the collector policy if it happens often.

Update an older collector#

Rows running an older version show Update. Select it and confirm Schedule update. The vehicle downloads collector 0.8.1 from your deployment the next time it is on the ground and online. Version 0.8.1 records SYSTEM_TIME pairs, which give companion evidence a shared anchor with the flight log.

What the collector cannot do#

  • Open a port. It connects outbound only, over mutual TLS, and holds no command channel.
  • Talk to the flight controller. It never sends MAVLink, and it cannot arm, move or reconfigure the vehicle.
  • Change the autonomy stack. It reads the journal and /proc, nothing else.
  • Lose data quietly. Offline samples are spooled, acknowledged before deletion, and any drop is written as a marker.

Next#