PX4 autopilot
PX4 autopilot is an open-source autopilot system oriented toward inexpensive autonomous aircraft.
Low cost and availability enable hobbyist use in small remotely piloted aircraft. The project started in 2009 and is being further developed and used at Computer Vision and Geometry Lab of ETH Zurich and supported by the Autonomous Systems Lab and the Automatic Control Laboratory. Several vendors are currently producing PX4 autopilots and accessories.
Overview
An autopilot allows a remotely piloted aircraft to be flown out of sight. All hardware and software is open-source and freely available to anyone under a BSD license. Free software autopilots provide more flexible hardware and software. Users can modify the autopilot based on their own special requirements.The open-source software suite contains everything to let airborne system fly including
- QGroundControl and MAVLink Micro Air Vehicle Communication Protocol
- 2D/3D aerial maps
- Drag-and-drop waypoints
- the paparazzi Project
- ArduCopter
- Slugs
- OpenPilot
Supported hardware
| Autopilot hardware name | FMU version | IO coprocessor | External SPI | External I²C | CAN interface | ADC interface | UART interface | PWM output | PWM / GPIO / PWM input | S.BUS / PPM / Spektrum input | S.BUS output | Type of Connectors | Weight | Opensource hardware |
| Pixhawk 1 | v2 | yes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 6 | yes | yes | Molex Hirose DF13 | 38 | yes |
| mRo Pixhawk Flight Controller | v3 | yes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 6 | yes | yes | Molex Hirose DF13 | 38 | yes |
| mRo-X2.1 Autopilot | v2 | yes | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 6 | - | - | JST-GH | 11 | yes |
| HKPilot32 | v3 | yes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 6 | yes | yes | Molex Hirose DF13 | 33 | no |
| Pixfalcon Flight Controller | v2 | yes | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 6 | yes | yes | Molex Hirose DF13 | 16 | no |
| DroPix Flight Controller | v2 | yes | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | yes | no | Pin header | 15 | no |
| Pixracer | v3 | no | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | - | yes | no | JST-GH | 10 | no |
| Cube Flight Controller | v3 | yes | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 6 | yes | no | JST-GH | - | yes |
| Pixhawk Mini | v2 | yes | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | - | yes | no | Micro JST | 16 | no |
| Pixhawk 3 Pro | v4 | yes | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 6 | yes | no | JST-GH | 83 | no |
| Pixhack V3 | v3 | yes | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | yes | no | JST-GH | 63 | partially |
| Pixhawk 4 | v5 | yes | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | yes | yes | JST-GH | - | no |
| CUAV v5 | v5 | yes | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 6 | yes | yes | JST-GH | 90 | partially |
| CUAV v5+ | v5 | yes | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 6 | yes | yes | JST-GH | 90 | partially |
| CUAV v5 nano | v5 | no | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | - | yes | no | JST-GH | 41 | partially |