This is the standard mission profile: establish the LOS link, connect through Horizon UI, and let the system fall back to BLOS automatically if LOS is lost. For an orientation to the screens named below, see the Horizon UI Tour.

Caution

The Horizon system has been validated with Mission Planner, Athena, and QGroundControl. Use with any other GCS application is not supported and may not function correctly. If your GCS application is not listed, contact a Somewear Field Service Representative or Sales Representative before proceeding.

Establish the LOS link

1. Power on the aircraft and flight controller, then the Aircraft Hardware Unit.
2. Confirm the Aircraft unit’s STATUS LED is solid green (see LED Quick Reference).
3. Connect the GCS Hardware Unit to the GCS computer with the USB-C cable, and power it from the modified AC wall adapter in the GCS kit. USB-C does not power the unit.
4. After the flight controller boots, confirm the LINK LED on both units is fast-blinking green — the LOS link is closed and both units are locked on to each other.

Note

Both units must share matching Radio Settings ranges and each must have a unique Name, set on the Connected Device screen. Without a name, LOS encryption keys are not set and the link will not close.

Connect through Horizon UI

1. Ensure the Beam server is running (tray: Server running), then select Open Horizon Manager.
2. Open Preferences and confirm the connection settings: Server Configuration set to 127.0.0.1 : 14550, and Connected GCS set to your GCS application. Status should read Connected.
3. Open Fleet View, select Add Aircraft, and set Device, Name, and UDP Port (default 14550). Select Add Aircraft.
4. In your GCS application, add a UDP connection:
   • Remote IP: 127.0.0.1
   • Remote port: 14550
5. Confirm the aircraft card turns Active and the GCS application shows live telemetry. While the LOS link is closed, this traffic flows over LOS at low latency.

Note

No COM-port selection is required — Horizon UI manages the serial routing automatically and exposes the connection over UDP. (Earlier versions required choosing a COM port; current versions do not.)

BLOS Fallback During Flight

Once a LOS + BLOS connection is established, Beam monitors the LOS MAVLink packets automatically. If no MAVLink packet is received for more than 3 seconds, Beam routes the following commands over the BLOS satellite link:

Supported BLOS Commands (GCS → Aircraft):

• Mission plan updates (add, remove, modify all waypoint types)
• Push a complete new mission plan
• “Fly To” — send aircraft to a specific waypoint
• Clear all waypoints
• Flight mode changes (Auto, RTL, etc.)
• Mission Start

Supported BLOS Telemetry (Aircraft → GCS): Longitude, Latitude, Altitude, Heading, Airspeed, Ground Speed, Throttle, Climb Rate, Battery, Battery Voltage, Current Waypoint, Full Heartbeat, Nav Roll, Nav Pitch, Nav Bearing, Target Bearing, Waypoint Distance, Roll, Pitch, Yaw.

Latency note: BLOS commands are acknowledged immediately in the GCS application but may take several seconds to be received and applied by the aircraft. Monitor the aircraft card’s Flight Log to confirm delivery — an entry reaching Delivered confirms the aircraft received it.