PX4 autopilot is an open-source

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

system oriented toward inexpensive

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...

aircraft. Low cost and availability enable hobbyist use in small

remotely piloted aircraft An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

. The project started in 2009 and is being further developed and used at Computer Vision and Geometry Lab of ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) 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 An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

to be flown out of sight. All hardware and software is open-source and freely available to anyone under a BSD license. Users can modify the autopilot based on their own special requirements. The

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...

suite contains everything to let airborne system fly including: * QGroundControl and MAVLink Micro Air Vehicle Communication Protocol * 2D/3D aerial maps (with Google Earth support) * Drag-and-drop waypoints Other

open-source robotics Open-source robotics (OSR) is where the physical artifacts of the subject are offered by the open design movement. This branch of robotics makes use of open-source hardware and free and open-source software providing blueprints, schematics, and s ...

projects similar to PX4 include: * the

paparazzi Project Paparazzi 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 began in 2003, and is being further developed and used at É ...

ArduPilot ArduPilot is an open source, unmanned vehicle Autopilot Software Suite, capable of controlling autonomous: *Multirotor drones *Fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft *Helicopters *Ground rovers *Boats * Submarines *Antenna trackers ArduPilot was original ...

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* OpenPilot

Supported hardware

For an up-to-date and complete list of the hardware supported by the PX4 Autopilot, visit thei
"Compatible Hardware"
website.

References

External links

PX4 Homepage

Dronecode Homepage
Avionics Aircraft instruments Unmanned aerial vehicles Free software Open-source hardware Software using the BSD license {{Component-aircraft-stub

Overview

Supported hardware

See also

References

External links