Pixhawk Software Options

Hi, I am new to Pixhawk and I am not sure about the software which can be used to program Pixhawk. Is Mission Planner the only option? I am a student studying control theory and I need to design my own controller, and therefore I need to implement my controller in code, rather than being interested in waypoints and navigation.

Can it be programmed with the Arduino IDE? I have read in some forums that the Pixhawk can be connected to Arduino Uno or Mega, but can it be programmed in C language through Arduino IDE directly? Because if not, what would be the use of Pixhawk if you need a seperate microcontroller apart from sensor data? Any help would be appreciated.

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  • Hi Julian!

    I'm in a very similar situation, wondering the same exact question! Were you able to access the IMU Raw data using Arduino IDE? Or did you use something else?

    Thanks!

  • Thank you!

  • https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/

    be sure to read everything on that page, the developers guides and all. it contains everything you need.

    ArduPilot/ardupilot
    ArduPlane, ArduCopter, ArduRover source. Contribute to ArduPilot/ardupilot development by creating an account on GitHub.
  • I don't think I understood what Github is exactly, maybe that is why I was not specific.

    What I would like to do is get sensor data from the IMU of the Pixhawk, and use that data through some C code so that I can control the PWM signals which I give to the ESCs. I will check out eclipse because I think I would need something similar to that. How can I know that the code that I write on eclipse can be uploaded on Pixhawk?

  • not sure what you mean by "If I obtain some source code from github, would it be possible to upload it on Mission planner "

    where/why would you upload the source ?

    If you mean to modify the source , compile new firmware - sure - there are many ways to upload it, no need for MP to do that, but even it can be used for that i think

    Yes, those are GCS software, by "inputting c code"  - if you mean programming,  it's usually done with eclipse as IDE.

  • In the Dev Guide, Qtcreator is mentioned for building the code, maybe that can be used and the code can then be uploaded on Mission planner?

  • The software which you mentioned all seem similar to MissionPlanner in the sense that they focus on navigation and planning rather than inputting your C code. Are any of those software programmed by C?

    If I obtain some source code from github, would it be possible to upload it on Mission planner or any of the software mentioned? Sorry if this obvious but I have never used Github before. Thanks for the help

  • no, beside Mission Planner, you have a lot of better options; APM planner 2, QGroundcontrol , MavProxy , and Tower.  Except for tower (Android), all are multiplatform.

    As for Arduino IDE, no it's a long time since it was used, you'll find all the info you need about programming/compling Ardupilot on github.

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