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Ingredient

PX4 / ArduPilot autopilot

Also known as: PX4, ArduPilot, Pixhawk, Cube Orange

Open-source flight control firmware that runs on dedicated autopilot hardware (Pixhawk family, Cube, Holybro) — turns a drone, fixed-wing aircraft, ground rover, or boat into an autonomous mission-flying machine. The right ingredient for any aerial-or-ground-vehicle project: crop-scouting drones, multispectral-imaging UAVs, autonomous boats for water-quality sampling, fixed-wing aircraft for large-area mapping. PX4 (BSD) and ArduPilot (GPL) are the two principal open ecosystems, both compatible with the Pixhawk hardware standard and the MAVLink protocol. Pixhawk 6C / Cube Orange ~$200–400; complete drone build ~$800–1500.

Inputs / outputs

  • Hardware: Pixhawk 4/6/Cube — STM32 dual-MCU, multiple IMUs, barometer, magnetometer
  • Firmware: PX4 (BSD) or ArduPilot (GPL)
  • Comms: MAVLink protocol over telemetry radio (433/915 MHz), USB, or WiFi
  • Inputs: GPS, RC receiver, optical-flow sensor, [[lidar-rangefinder|LiDAR rangefinder]], [[rgbd-camera|RGB-D camera]]
  • Outputs: ESC PWM (motors), servo PWM (control surfaces), payload triggers (camera shutter, sprayer relay)

Solves / unlocks

  • Crop-scouting drones with autonomous waypoint missions
  • Multispectral imaging for NDVI maps (NIR + RGB cameras)
  • Autonomous boats for water-quality sampling on ponds/lakes
  • Fixed-wing mapping aircraft for hundreds-of-acres surveys
  • Spray drones (with appropriate licensing — heavy regulation)
  • Crop-counting via aerial imagery + ML pipelines

Constraints

  • Regulation — most countries restrict drone weight, altitude, line-of-sight, and commercial use; spray drones especially regulated.
  • Battery life is short — 15–30 minutes per flight typical; plan for swap cycles.
  • Wind sensitivity — small drones lose stability above ~10 m/s wind.
  • Crash recovery — autopilot does not save bad pilot decisions; have a pre-flight checklist and fail-safes.
  • Companion-computer integration — getting Jetson + Pixhawk to play well requires careful MAVLink/MAVROS configuration.

Source

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

  • Member of: [[ingredient]]
  • Combines with: [[gps-rtk]] · [[ros2]] · [[nvidia-jetson]] · [[opencv]] · [[imu-mpu6050]]

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