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PX4 Guide (v1.15)

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Introduction

Basic Concepts

Multicopters

Features

Flight Modes

Position Mode (MC)

Position Slow Mode (MC)

Altitude Mode (MC)

Manual/Stabilized Mode (MC)

Acro Mode (MC)

Orbit Mode (MC)

Takeoff Mode (MC)

Land Mode (MC)

Hold Mode (MC)

Follow Me Mode (MC)

Mission Mode (MC)

Return Mode (MC)

Offboard Mode (MC)

Precision Landing

Terrain Following/Holding

Throw Launch

Assembly

Configuration/Tuning

Filter/Control Latency Tuning

PID Tuning (Manual/Basic)

PID Tuning Guide (Manual/Advanced)

Setpoint Tuning (Trajectory Generator)

Jerk-limited Type Trajectory

Racer Setup

Land Detector Configuration

Static Pressure Buildup

Flying (Basics)

Complete Vehicles

ModalAI Starling

PX4 Vision Kit

MindRacer BNF & RTF

MindRacer 210

NanoMind 110

Holybro Kopis 2

Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.1

Kits

X500 v2 (Pixhawk 6C)

X500 v2 (Pixhawk 5X)

X500 (Pixhawk 4)

S500 V2 (Pixhawk 4)

Lumenier QAV-R 5" Racer (Pixracer)

QAV250 (Pixhawk4 Mini) - Discontinued

DIY Builds

Omnicopter

DJI F450 (CUAV v5+)

DJI F450 (CUAV v5 nano)

Planes (Fixed-Wing)

Assembly

Config/Tuning

Rate/Attitude Controller Tuning Guide

Altitude/Position Controller Tuning Guide

Weight & Altitude Tuning

Trimming Guide

Flying (Basics)

Flight Modes

Position Mode (FW)

Altitude Mode (FW)

Stabilized Mode (FW)

Acro Mode (FW)

Manual Mode (FW)

Takeoff Mode (FW)

Land Mode (FW)

Hold Mode (FW)

Mission Mode (FW)

Return Mode (FW)

Offboard Mode (FW)

Complete Vehicles

DIY Builds

Reptile Dragon 2 (ARK6X)

Turbo Timber Evolution (Pixhawk 4 Mini)

Wing Wing Z84 (Pixracer)

VTOL

Assembly

VTOL Config/Tuning

QuadPlane Configuration

Back-transition Tuning

VTOL w/o Airspeed Sensor

VTOL Weather Vane

Flight Modes

Mission Mode (VTOL)

Return Mode (VTOL)

Land Mode (VTOL)

Standard VTOL

Build: Foxtech Loong 2160 VTOL

FunCub QuadPlane (Pixhawk)

Ranger QuadPlane (Pixhawk)

Falcon Vertigo QuadPlane (Dropix)

Tailsitter VTOL

Build: TBS Caipiroshka Tailsitter Build (Pixracer)

Tiltrotor VTOL

Build: Convergence Tiltrotor (Pixfalcon)

Build: OMP Hobby ZMO FPV

Complete Vehicles

Operations

Safety

Safety Configuration (Failsafes)

Failsafe Simulation

Geofence

Safe Points (Rally)

Prearm/Arm/Disarm Configuration

Flight Termination Configuration

First Flight Guidelines

Flying

Missions

Flight Reporting

Flight Log Analysis

Log Analysis using Flight Review

Log Analysis using PlotJuggler

Vehicle Status Notifications

LED Meanings

Tune/Sound Meanings

QGroundControl Flight-Readiness Status

Hardware Selection & Setup

Flight Controllers (Autopilots)

Flight Controller Selection

Mounting the Flight Controller

Vibration Isolation

Updating Firmware

Flight Controller/Sensor Orientation

Level Horizon Calibration

Advanced Controller Orientation

Bootloader Update

Bootloader Update FMUv6X-RT via USB

Bootloader Flashing onto Betaflight Systems

Pixhawk Series

Silicon Errata

Pixhawk Standard Autopilots

CUAV Pixhawk V6X (FMUv6X)

Wiring QuickStart

Holybro Pixhawk 6X-RT (FMUv6X-RT)

Holybro Pixhawk 6X (FMUv6X)

Wiring Quickstart

Holybro Pixhawk 6C (FMUv6C)

Wiring Quickstart

Holybro Pixhawk 6C Mini(FMUv6C)

Holybro Pix32 v6 (FMUv6C)

Holybro Pixhawk 5X (FMUv5X)

Wiring Quickstart

Holybro Pixhawk 4 (FMUv5)

Wiring Quickstart

Holybro Pixhawk 4 Mini (FMUv5) - Discontinued

Wiring Quickstart

Drotek Pixhawk 3 Pro (FMUv4pro) - Discontinued

mRo Pixracer (FMUv4)

Wiring Quickstart

Hex Cube Black (FMUv3)

mRo Pixhawk (FMUv3)

mRo (3DR) Pixhawk Wiring Quickstart

Holybro Pixhawk Mini (FMUv3) - Discontinued

Manufacturer-Supported Autopilots

AirMind MindPX

AirMind MindRacer

ARK Electronics ARKV6X

CUAV X7

CUAV Nora

CUAV V5+ (FMUv5)

Wiring Quickstart

CUAV V5 nano (FMUv5)

CUAV V5 nano Wiring Quickstart

CUAV Pixhack v3 (FMUv3)

CubePilot Cube Orange+ (CubePilot)

CubePilot Cube Orange (CubePilot)

CubePilot Cube Yellow (CubePilot)

Cube Wiring Quickstart

Holybro Kakute H7v2

Holybro Kakute H7mini

Holybro Kakute H7

Holybro Durandal

Wiring Quickstart

Holybro Pix32 v5

Wiring Quickstart

ModalAI Flight Core v1

ModalAI VOXL Flight

ModalAI VOXL 2

mRobotics-X2.1 (FMUv2)

mRo Control Zero F7)

NXP RDDRONE-FMUK66 FMU

Sky-Drones AIRLink

SPRacing SPRacingH7EXTREME

ThePeach FCC-K1

ThePeach FCC-R1

Experimental Autopilots

BeagleBone Blue

Raspberry Pi 2/3 Navio2

Raspberry Pi 2/3/4 PilotPi

PilotPi with Raspberry Pi OS

PilotPi with Ubuntu Server

Discontinued Autopilots/Vehicles

Drotek Dropix (FMUv2)

Omnibus F4 SD

BetaFPV Beta75X 2S Brushless Whoop

Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.0

Aerotenna OcPoC-Zynq Mini

CUAV v5

Holybro Kakute F7 (Discontinued)

Holybro Pixfalcon

Holybro pix32 (FMUv2)

mRo AUAV-X2

3DR Pixhawk 1

Snapdragon Flight

Intel® Aero RTF Drone (Discontinued)

Pixhawk Autopilot Bus (PAB) & Carriers

ARK Electronics Pixhawk Autopilot Bus Carrier

Airframe Selection

Sensors

Accelerometer

Calibration

Gyroscope

Calibration

Magnetometer (Compass)

Mounting a Compass

Calibration

Compass Power Compensation

Airspeed Sensors

Calibration

TFSlot Airspeed Sensor

Barometers

Distance Sensors (Rangefinders)

Lightware SFxx Lidar

Ainstein US-D1 Standard Radar Altimeter

LeddarOne Lidar

Benewake TFmini Lidar

Lidar-Lite

TeraRanger

Lanbao PSK-CM8JL65-CC5

Avionics Anonymous Laser Altimeter UAVCAN Interface (CAN)

GNSS (GPS)

ARK GPS (CAN)

CUAV NEO 3 GPS

CUAV NEO 3 Pro GPS (CAN)

CUAV NEO 3X GPS (CAN)

Holybro DroneCAN M8N GPS (CAN)

LOCOSYS Hawk A1 GNSS

Hex Here2 (Discontinued)

Holybro M8N & M9N GPS

Sky-Drones SmartAP GPS

RTK GNSS

ARK RTK GPS (CAN)

RTK GPS Heading with Dual u-blox F9P

CUAV C-RTK

CUAV C-RTK2 PPK/RTK GNSS

CUAV C-RTK 9Ps

Femtones MINI2 Receiver

Freefly RTK GPS

Holybro H-RTK-F9P

Holybro H-RTK-M8P

Holybro H-RTK Unicore UM982 GPS

Locosys Hawk R1

Locosys Hawk R2

Septentrio AsteRx-RIB

Septentrio mosaic-go

Trimble MB-Two

CubePilot Here+ (Discontined)

INS (Inertial Navigation/GNSS)

VectorNav

Optical Flow

ARK Flow

PMW3901

PX4FLOW (Deprecated)

Tachometers (Revolution Counters)

ThunderFly TFRPM01 Tachometer Sensor

IMU Factory Calibration

Sensor Thermal Compensation

Actuators

Actuator Allocation

ESC Calibration

ESCs & Motors

PWM ESCs and Servos

DShot ESCs

OneShot ESCs and Servos

DroneCAN ESCs

Zubax Telega

PX4 Sapog ESC Firmware

Holybro Kotleta

Zubax Orel

Vertiq

VESC

Radio Control (RC)

Radio Setup

Flight Modes

Joysticks

Data Links

MAVLink Telemetry (OSD/GCS)

Telemetry Radios

SiK Radio

RFD900 (SiK) Telemetry Radio

HolyBro (SIK) Telemetry Radio

Telemetry Wifi

ESP8266 WiFi Module

ESP32 WiFi Module

3DR Telemetry Wifi (Discontinued)

Microhard Serial Telemetry Radio

ARK Electron Microhard Serial Telemetry Radio

Holybro Microhard P900 Telemetry Radio

CUAV P8 Telemetry Radio

HolyBro XBP9X - Discontinued

FrSky Telemetry

TBS Crossfire (CRSF) Telemetry

Satellite Comms (Iridium/RockBlock)

Power Systems

Battery Estimation Tuning

Power Modules/PDB

CUAV HV pm

CUAV CAN PMU

Holybro PM02

Holybro PM07

Holybro PM06 V2

Holybro PM02D (digital)

Holybro PM03D (digital)

Pomegranate Systems Power Module

Sky-Drones SmartAP PDB

Smart/MAVLink Batteries

Rotoye Batmon Battery Smartification Kit

Payloads & Cameras

Use Cases

Package Delivery Mission

Generic Actuator Control

Camera

MAVLink Camera (v2 protocol)

MAVLink Camera (v1 protocol)

Camera Connected to FC Outputs

Gimbal (Mount) Configuration

Grippers

Servo Gripper

Peripherals

ADSB/FLARM/UTM (Traffic Avoidance)

Parachute

Remote ID

I2C Peripherals

I2C bus accelerators

TFI2CADT01 I2C address translator

CAN Peripherals

DroneCAN Peripherals

PX4 DroneCAN Firmware

ARK CANnode

Cable Wiring

Companion Computers

Pixhawk + Companion Setup

RasPi Pixhawk Companion

Companion Computer Peripherals

Holybro Pixhawk RPI CM4 Baseboard

Auterion Skynode

Computer Vision

Collision Prevention

Path Planning Interface

Motion Capture (MoCap)

Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO)

Realsense T265 Tracking Camera (VIO)

Video Streaming

Video Streaming using WFB-ng Wifi (Long range)

Serial Port Configuration

PX4 Ethernet Setup

Standard Configuration

Autotune

Advanced Configuration

ECL/EKF Overview & Tuning

Finding/Updating Parameters

Full Parameter Reference

Other Vehicles

Airships (experimental)

Autogyros (experimental)

ThunderFly Auto-G2 (Holybro pix32)

Balloons (experimental)

Helicopter (experimental)

Helicopter Config/Tuning

Rovers (experimental)

Flight Modes

Aion Robotics R1

Traxxas Stampede

Submarines (experimental)

BlueROV2

Airframes Reference

Assembly (Generic-Vehicle)

Flight Modes

Return Mode (Generic/All)

Offboard Mode (Generic/All)

Development

Getting Started

Recommended Hardware/Setup

Toolchain Installation

Ubuntu Setup

Windows Setup

MacOS Setup

Visual Studio Code IDE

QGC Daily Build

Building the Code

Writing your First Application

Application/Module Template

Concepts

PX4 System Architecture

PX4 Flight Stack Architecture

Controller Diagrams

Parameters & Configs

Events Interface

Flight Modes

Flight Tasks

Control Allocation

PWM limit state machine

System Startup

SD Card Layout

Simulation

Gazebo Simulation

Vehicles

Advanced Lift Drag Tool

Gazebo Models Repository

Multi-Vehicle Sim

Gazebo Classic Simulation

Vehicles

Worlds

Multi-Vehicle Sim

Simulate Failsafes

Hardware

Flight Controller Reference Design

Manufacturer’s Board Support Guide

Flight Controller Porting Guide

PX4 Board Configuration (kconfig)

NuttX Board Porting Guide

Serial Port Mapping

Airframes

Adding a New Airframe

Device Drivers

Telemetry Radio

SiK Radio

Sensor and Actuator I/O

DroneCAN

I2C Bus

UART/Serial Ports

Port-Configurable Serial Drivers

RTK GPS (Integration)

Middleware

uORB Messaging

uORB Graph

uORB Message Reference

ActionRequest

ActuatorArmed

ActuatorControlsStatus

ActuatorMotors

ActuatorOutputs

ActuatorServos

ActuatorServosTrim

ActuatorTest

AdcReport

Airspeed

AirspeedValidated

AirspeedWind

ArmingCheckReply

ArmingCheckRequest

AutotuneAttitudeControlStatus

BatteryStatus

Buffer128

ButtonEvent

CameraCapture

CameraStatus

CameraTrigger

CanInterfaceStatus

CellularStatus

CollisionConstraints

CollisionReport

ConfigOverrides

ControlAllocatorStatus

Cpuload

DatamanRequest

DatamanResponse

DebugArray

DebugKeyValue

DebugValue

DebugVect

DifferentialDriveSetpoint

DifferentialPressure

DistanceSensor

Ekf2Timestamps

EscReport

EscStatus

EstimatorAidSource1d

EstimatorAidSource2d

EstimatorAidSource3d

EstimatorBias

EstimatorBias3d

EstimatorEventFlags

EstimatorGpsStatus

EstimatorInnovations

EstimatorSelectorStatus

EstimatorSensorBias

EstimatorStates

EstimatorStatus

EstimatorStatusFlags

Event

FailsafeFlags

FailureDetectorStatus

FigureEightStatus

FlightPhaseEstimation

FollowTarget

FollowTargetEstimator

FollowTargetStatus

FuelTankStatus

GeneratorStatus

GeofenceResult

GeofenceStatus

GimbalControls

GimbalDeviceAttitudeStatus

GimbalDeviceInformation

GimbalDeviceSetAttitude

GimbalManagerInformation

GimbalManagerSetAttitude

GimbalManagerSetManualControl

GimbalManagerStatus

GotoSetpoint

GpioConfig

GpioIn

GpioOut

GpioRequest

GpsDump

GpsInjectData

Gripper

HealthReport

HeaterStatus

HomePosition

HoverThrustEstimate

InputRc

InternalCombustionEngineStatus

IridiumsbdStatus

IrlockReport

LandingGear

LandingGearWheel

LandingTargetInnovations

LandingTargetPose

LaunchDetectionStatus

LedControl

LogMessage

LoggerStatus

MagWorkerData

MagnetometerBiasEstimate

ManualControlSetpoint

ManualControlSwitches

MavlinkLog

MavlinkTunnel

MessageFormatRequest

MessageFormatResponse

Mission

MissionResult

ModeCompleted

MountOrientation

NavigatorMissionItem

NormalizedUnsignedSetpoint

NpfgStatus

ObstacleDistance

OffboardControlMode

OnboardComputerStatus

OrbTest

OrbTestLarge

OrbTestMedium

OrbitStatus

ParameterResetRequest

ParameterSetUsedRequest

ParameterSetValueRequest

ParameterSetValueResponse

ParameterUpdate

Ping

PositionControllerLandingStatus

PositionControllerStatus

PositionSetpoint

PositionSetpointTriplet

PowerButtonState

PowerMonitor

PpsCapture

PwmInput

Px4ioStatus

QshellReq

QshellRetval

RadioStatus

RateCtrlStatus

RcChannels

RcParameterMap

RegisterExtComponentReply

RegisterExtComponentRequest

RoverAckermannGuidanceStatus

Rpm

RtlStatus

RtlTimeEstimate

SatelliteInfo

SensorAccel

SensorAccelFifo

SensorAirflow

SensorBaro

SensorCombined

SensorCorrection

SensorGnssRelative

SensorGps

SensorGyro

SensorGyroFft

SensorGyroFifo

SensorHygrometer

SensorMag

SensorOpticalFlow

SensorPreflightMag

SensorUwb

SensorSelection

SensorsStatus

SensorsStatusImu

SystemPower

TakeoffStatus

TaskStackInfo

TecsStatus

TelemetryStatus

TiltrotorExtraControls

TimesyncStatus

TrajectoryBezier

TrajectorySetpoint

TrajectoryWaypoint

TransponderReport

TuneControl

UavcanParameterRequest

UavcanParameterValue

UlogStream

UlogStreamAck

UnregisterExtComponent

VehicleAcceleration

VehicleAirData

VehicleAngularAccelerationSetpoint

VehicleAngularVelocity

VehicleAttitude

VehicleAttitudeSetpoint

VehicleCommand

VehicleCommandAck

VehicleConstraints

VehicleControlMode

VehicleGlobalPosition

VehicleImu

VehicleImuStatus

VehicleLandDetected

VehicleLocalPosition

VehicleLocalPositionSetpoint

VehicleMagnetometer

VehicleOdometry

VehicleOpticalFlow

VehicleOpticalFlowVel

VehicleRatesSetpoint

VehicleRoi

VehicleStatus

VehicleThrustSetpoint

VehicleTorqueSetpoint

VehicleTrajectoryBezier

VehicleTrajectoryWaypoint

VelocityLimits

VtolVehicleStatus

WheelEncoders

Wind

YawEstimatorStatus

MAVLink Messaging

uXRCE-DDS (PX4-ROS 2/DDS Bridge)

Modules & Commands

Autotune

Commands

Communication

Controllers

Drivers

Airspeed Sensor

Baro

Camera

Distance Sensor

IMU

INS

Magnetometer

Optical Flow

Rpm Sensor

Transponder

Estimators

Simulations

System

Template

Debugging/Logging

FAQ

Consoles/Shells

MAVLink Shell

System Console

Debugging with GDB

SWD Debug Port

JLink Probe

Black Magic/DroneCode Probe

STLink Probe

MCU-Link Probe

Hardfault Debugging

Debugging with Eclipse

Failure Injection

Sensor/Topic Debugging

Simulation Debugging

Sending Debug Values

System-wide Replay

Profiling

Binary Size Profiling

Logging

Flight Log Analysis

ULog File Format

Advanced Topics

PX4 Metadata

Package Delivery Architecture

Camera Integration/Architecture

Computer Vision

Motion Capture (VICON, Optitrack, NOKOV)

Installing driver for Intel RealSense R200

Switching State Estimators

Out-of-Tree Modules

STM32 Bootloader

System Tunes

Advanced Linux Installation Cases

Connecting an RC Receiver to PX4 on Linux (Tutorial)

Community Supported Developer Setup

Arch Linux

CentOS Linux

Windows VM Toolchain

Windows Cygwin Toolchain

Windows Cygwin Toolchain Maintenance

Qt Creator IDE

Simulators

FlightGear Simulation

FlightGear Vehicles

Multi-Vehicle Sim with FlightGear

jMAVSim Simulation

Multi-Vehicle Sim with JMAVSim

JSBSim Simulation

AirSim Simulation

HITL Simulation

Simulation-In-Hardware

Multi-vehicle simulation

Platform Testing and CI

Test Flights

Test MC_01 - Manual Modes

Test MC_02 - Full Autonomous

Test MC_03 - Auto Manual Mix

Test MC_04 - Failsafe Testing

Test MC_05 - Indoor Flight (Manual Modes)

Unit Tests

Continuous Integration

MAVSDK Integration Testing

ROS Integration Testing

Docker Containers

Maintenance

Drone Apps & APIs

Offboard Control from Linux

ROS

ROS 2

ROS 2 User Guide

ROS 2 Offboard Control Example

ROS 2 Multi Vehicle Simulation

PX4 ROS 2 Interface Library

Control Interface

Navigation Interface

ROS 1 with MAVROS

ROS/MAVROS Installation Guide

ROS/MAVROS Offboard Example (C++)

ROS/MAVROS Offboard Example (Python)

ROS/MAVROS Sending Custom Messages

ROS/MAVROS with Gazebo Classic Simulation

Gazebo Classic OctoMap Models with ROS 1

ROS/MAVROS Installation on RPi

External Position Estimation (Vision/Motion based)

DroneKit

Community

Dev Call

Support

Source Code Management

GIT Examples

Documentation

Translation

Terminology/Notation

Licenses

Releases

main (alpha)

1.15 (stable)

1.14

1.13

1.12

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Concepts

This section contains topics about the PX4 System Architecture and other core concepts.

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Flight Modes

Setpoint Tuning (Trajectory Generator)

MindRacer BNF & RTF

Bootloader Update

Pixhawk Series

Pixhawk Standard Autopilots

CUAV Pixhawk V6X (FMUv6X)

Holybro Pixhawk 6X (FMUv6X)

Holybro Pixhawk 6C (FMUv6C)

Holybro Pixhawk 5X (FMUv5X)

Holybro Pixhawk 4 (FMUv5)

Holybro Pixhawk 4 Mini (FMUv5) - Discontinued

mRo Pixracer (FMUv4)

mRo Pixhawk (FMUv3)

Manufacturer-Supported Autopilots

CUAV V5+ (FMUv5)

CUAV V5 nano (FMUv5)

CubePilot Cube Yellow (CubePilot)

Holybro Durandal

Holybro Pix32 v5

Experimental Autopilots

Raspberry Pi 2/3/4 PilotPi

Discontinued Autopilots/Vehicles

Pixhawk Autopilot Bus (PAB) & Carriers

Accelerometer

Gyroscope

Magnetometer (Compass)

Airspeed Sensors

Distance Sensors (Rangefinders)

GNSS (GPS)

RTK GNSS

INS (Inertial Navigation/GNSS)

Optical Flow

Tachometers (Revolution Counters)

ESCs & Motors

DroneCAN ESCs

PX4 Sapog ESC Firmware

Telemetry Radios

SiK Radio

Telemetry Wifi

Microhard Serial Telemetry Radio

Power Modules/PDB

Smart/MAVLink Batteries

Camera

Grippers

Pixhawk + Companion Setup

Computer Vision

Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO)

Video Streaming

Toolchain Installation

PX4 Flight Stack Architecture

Gazebo Simulation

Vehicles

Gazebo Classic Simulation

Flight Controller Porting Guide

Airframes

Telemetry Radio

Sensor and Actuator I/O

UART/Serial Ports

uORB Message Reference

Drivers

Consoles/Shells

Debugging with GDB

Computer Vision

Windows Cygwin Toolchain

Simulators

FlightGear Simulation

jMAVSim Simulation

Test Flights

ROS 2

PX4 ROS 2 Interface Library

ROS 1 with MAVROS

Concepts ​

Concepts