feat(VideoManager): add HTTP MJPEG video source

[alireza787b]

Description

QGroundControl supports RTP, RTSP, and MPEG transports, but not the multipart MJPEG feeds exposed by many cameras and small video servers.

This adds a generic HTTP MJPEG Video Stream source:

• accepts full http:// and https:// URLs in Video settings;
• builds souphttpsrc ! multipartdemux ! jpegparse into QGC's existing decode/display receiver;
• packages the required Soup, multipart, JPEG parser, and JPEG decoder plugins;
• keeps TLS verification strict, disables redirects, rejects URL user information, strips fragments, and uses logging-safe diagnostics; and
• uses the existing network-video watchdog and reconnect policy.

The endpoint must return multipart/x-mixed-replace with JPEG parts. Web pages, single-image URLs, arbitrary HTTP video files, request-header authentication, and recording-policy changes are out of scope.

This branch carries #14727 and #14729 as independently reviewable prerequisites. After those prerequisites, the HTTP transport slice is 15 files with 415 additions and 18 deletions. The Windows software-frame fallback from #14728 is now in master.

Type of Change

• Bug fix
• New feature
• Breaking change
• Documentation update
• Refactoring
• CI/Build changes
• Other

Testing

• Tested locally
• Added/updated unit tests
• Tested with simulator (not applicable)
• Tested with camera hardware

An integrated candidate containing this transport was manually exercised on Linux, Windows, and Android. The camera-free GStreamer test starts a local HTTP server, sends a real multipart JPEG response, and requires frame delivery through appsink. Additional tests cover source properties, plugin packaging, malformed or unsafe URLs, TLS policy, and diagnostic handling.

Exact PR head: af1201e83ffce288ba2a4ea3bd900ce818d41725.

Exact-head QGC CI is complete: Linux x64/arm64 release builds, unit and integration tests, ASan/UBSan, coverage thresholds, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Docker, custom-plugin, and CodeQL checks passed. Linux evidence: run 30598322052.

Platforms Tested

• Linux
• Windows
• macOS (QGC exact-head CI build)
• Android
• iOS (QGC exact-head CI build)

Flight Stacks Tested

Not applicable; this change is confined to video reception.

Screenshots

Not applicable; the UI addition uses the existing Video settings layout.

Checklist

• I have read the Contribution Guidelines
• I have read the Code of Conduct
• My code follows the project coding standards
• I have added tests that prove the feature works
• New and existing unit and integration tests pass at the exact head in QGC CI

Related Issues

• Depends on fix(VideoManager): redact stream URLs in diagnostics #14727 for logging-safe diagnostics.
• Depends on test(UnitTest): handle early local HTTP requests #14729 for deterministic local HTTP fixture delivery.
• fix(VideoManager): preserve Windows software frames #14728, now merged, fixes Windows rendering of software-decoded frames.
• Supersedes the HTTP portion of closed draft feat(VideoManager): add HTTP MJPEG and WebSocket JPEG sources #13594.

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By submitting this pull request, I confirm that my contribution is made under the terms of the project's dual license (Apache 2.0 and GPL v3).

[github-actions]

Build Results

Platform Status

Platform	Status	Details
Linux	Passed	View
Windows	Passed	View
MacOS	Passed	View
Android	Passed	View

All builds passed.

Pre-commit

Check	Status	Details
pre-commit	Failed (non-blocking)	View

Pre-commit hooks: 0 passed, 0 failed, 0 skipped.

Test Results

linux-coverage-integration: 37 passed, 0 skipped
linux-coverage-unit: 119 passed, 0 skipped
linux-sanitizers-integration: 20 passed, 0 skipped
linux-sanitizers-unit: 119 passed, 0 skipped
Total: 295 passed, 0 skipped

Code Coverage

Coverage: 69.4%

No baseline available for comparison

Artifact Sizes

Artifact	Size
QGroundControl	222.00 MB
QGroundControl-aarch64	179.43 MB
QGroundControl-installer-AMD64	137.90 MB
QGroundControl-installer-AMD64-ARM64	80.36 MB
QGroundControl-installer-ARM64	109.16 MB
QGroundControl-linux	87.47 MB
QGroundControl-mac	87.47 MB
QGroundControl-x86_64	191.66 MB
No baseline available for comparison

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_{Updated: 2026-07-31 02:52:43 UTC • Commit: af1201e • Triggered by: Windows}

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 12.24490% with 172 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 32.63%. Comparing base (f29efd3) to head (af1201e).
⚠️ Report is 236 commits behind head on master.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
...anager/VideoReceiver/GStreamer/GstSourceFactory.cc	21.59%	17 Missing and 52 partials ⚠️
...anager/VideoReceiver/GStreamer/GstVideoReceiver.cc	0.00%	63 Missing ⚠️
src/Settings/VideoSettings.cc	15.38%	17 Missing and 5 partials ⚠️
src/VideoManager/VideoManager.cc	0.00%	13 Missing ⚠️
src/Camera/VehicleCameraControl.cc	0.00%	4 Missing ⚠️
...anager/VideoReceiver/GStreamer/GStreamerHelpers.cc	0.00%	0 Missing and 1 partial ⚠️

❌ Your patch check has failed because the patch coverage (12.24%) is below the target coverage (30.00%). You can increase the patch coverage or adjust the target coverage.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master   #14730      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   25.47%   32.63%   +7.16%     
==========================================
  Files         769      784      +15     
  Lines       65912    67686    +1774     
  Branches    30495    31376     +881     
==========================================
+ Hits        16788    22092    +5304     
+ Misses      37285    30679    -6606     
- Partials    11839    14915    +3076     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	32.63% <12.24%> (+7.16%)	⬆️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

Files with missing lines	Coverage Δ
src/Settings/VideoSettings.h	100.00% <100.00%> (+85.71%)	⬆️
src/Utilities/Network/QGCNetworkHelper.h	0.00% <ø> (ø)
...Manager/VideoReceiver/GStreamer/GstVideoReceiver.h	0.00% <ø> (ø)
...anager/VideoReceiver/GStreamer/GStreamerHelpers.cc	38.65% <0.00%> (+1.96%)	⬆️
src/Camera/VehicleCameraControl.cc	9.52% <0.00%> (+7.77%)	⬆️
src/VideoManager/VideoManager.cc	7.91% <0.00%> (+6.01%)	⬆️
src/Settings/VideoSettings.cc	30.00% <15.38%> (+14.21%)	⬆️
...anager/VideoReceiver/GStreamer/GstVideoReceiver.cc	3.03% <0.00%> (+0.13%)	⬆️
...anager/VideoReceiver/GStreamer/GstSourceFactory.cc	29.38% <21.59%> (ø)

... and 469 files with indirect coverage changes

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[alireza787b]

@HTRamsey, this focused HTTP MJPEG source is ready for review. Exact head e9303ae571c41fdc1b4d78dba088042e21769212 passed QGC Linux release, unit, integration, coverage and sanitizer jobs; all Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, Docker, pre-commit and CodeQL checks are green as well. After #14727 and #14729, the transport itself is 15 files (+423/-27). The test uses a local multipart server and requires a real JPEG sample through appsink, so no camera or external service is needed. The endpoint contract is deliberately anonymous multipart MJPEG only; authentication remains outside this PR.