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PX4 autopilot is an open-source autopilot system oriented toward inexpensive autonomous aircraft.[1]

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (January 2018)

PX4 AutoPilot

Developer(s)	PX4 Development Team and Community
Initial release	March 2012
Repository	https://github.com/PX4/Firmware
Written in	C++
Operating system	NuttX, ROS
License	BSD-3-Clause
Website	http://px4.io

Low cost and availability enable hobbyist use in small remotely piloted aircraft. The project started in 2009[2] 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.[3]

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. 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[4] and MAVLink Micro Air Vehicle Communication Protocol[5]
• 2D/3D aerial maps (with Google Earth support)
• Drag-and-drop waypoints

Other open-source robotics projects similar to PX4 include:

• the paparazzi Project
• ArduPilot
• Slugs
• OpenPilot

Supported hardware

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

See also

• Crowdsourcing
• Micro air vehicle

References

External links

• PX4 Homepage
• Dronecode Homepage

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