Introducing the PX4 autopilot system

The PX4 team is pleased to announce early availability of the PX4 autopilot platform, with hardware available immediately from 3D Robotics.

The platform is a low cost, modular, open hardware and software design targeting high-end research, hobby and industrial autopilot applications.

PX4 is an expandable, modular system comprising the PX4FMU Flight Management Unit (autopilot) and a number of optional interface modules.

The PX4FMU autopilot features include:

168Mhz ARM CortexM4F microcontroller with DSP and floating-point hardware acceleration.
1024KiB of flash memory, 192KiB of RAM.
MEMS accelerometer and gyro, magnetometer and barometric pressure sensor.
Flexible expansion bus and onboard power options.

Expansion modules available at release include:

PX4IOAR This module interfaces PX4 to the AR.Drone motor controllers, allowing a complete quadrotor to be assembled using an AR.Drone frame and motors.
PX4IO A flexible interface module with support for eight PWM servo outputs, relays, switched power and more.

As an open hardware design, third-party and DIY expansion modules can be easily developed for specific applications, and more PX4 modules are in development.

In addition to the versatile hardware platform, PX4 introduces a sophisticated, modular software environment built on top of a POSIX-like realtime operating system. The modular architecture and operating system support greatly simplify the process of experimenting with specific components of the system, as well as reducing the barriers to entry for new developers.

Adding support for new sensors, peripherals and expansion modules is straightforward due to standardized interface protocols between software components. Onboard microSD storage permits high-rate logging and data storage for custom applications. MAVLink protocol support provides direct integration with existing ground control systems including QGroundControl and the APM Mission Planner.

Pricing of the PX4 components reflects more than a year of careful development and a strong commitment from our manufacturing partner.

This release is targeted at early adopters and developers looking for a more capable platform than existing low-cost autopilots. With more than an order of magnitude more processing power and memory compared to popular 8-bit autopilot platforms, PX4 is exceptional value for money and provides substantial room for future growth.

For more information about the PX4 autopilot platform, visit the project website at http://pixhawk.ethz.ch/px4/

PX4 modules can be purchased from our manufacturing partner, 3DRobotics.

@monroe - The default sensor set is part of the PX4FMU board, so replacing those would involve finding physically compatible alternatives that meet your needs. Earlier in the design we discussed having a sub-carrier for the sensor suite, but it added substantially to the cost of the board as well as being a manufacturing challenge.

However, there's nothing intrinsic to the software or hardware architecture that would prevent you from adding external sensors, e.g. via an expansion board tailored for rocketry use. The software architecture is certainly flexible enough to accommodate this sort of change.

Please encourage your rocket guys to get involved; this is an open project and we're always interested in new applications and perspectives. I expect that we have a lot to learn from your community.

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Comments

chc2111 August 2, 2012 at 5:44pm

Installed the V2 version of the px4 installer. Works very well - great job. The first one there was some additional work to do. Got everything compiled. I loaded the bootloader on my STM32f4Discovery board. Connected it to the USB. But the dirver didi not install. Tried it manually pointing to the drivers directory "c:\px4|drivers". Wasn't happy with that. I'm using Windows 64. Had anybody success getting this working !?!
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson August 2, 2012 at 2:25pm

Jason: APM 3 does not yet have a release date (although we're targeting Q4) and will probably not run full ArduCopter/ArduPlane code at first hardware release. PX4 also does not yet have full autopilot software--it's a development environment at the moment (ArduCopter is being ported to it, but we don't have an ETA yet). I'm not sure about Paparazzi.

If you want to fly now, APM 2.5 is the best bet. It's mature hardware and software that supports all vehicles.
Strike Eagle III August 2, 2012 at 2:14pm

Hi - I'm trying to evaluate different autopilot platforms (APM 2.5 vs PX4 vs Paparazzi and maybe APM 3?). Couple questions:

The PX4 Autopilot platform overview view just says "video is private" when I try to view it. I'm signed in, but what else do I need to do?

APM 3.0 - Will the delays the Due is experiencing (anyone have an update on that?) cause any delays on APM 3.0? I like how well supported and relatively straightforward programming the APM 2.5 is, but our lab needs the additional processing power that the PX4 and from what I can tell the Due will have.

Any other thoughts?
PX4 August 2, 2012 at 10:06am

@Angelo The current filter is not using position feedback, but some developers are already working on porting existing designs compensating for the acceleration onto the platform.

@all: The support forum is now available on the final URL: http://answers.px4.ethz.ch/
Angelo DP August 2, 2012 at 5:54am

Does the attitude estimator take account of various dynamic accelerations: Velocity change in x direction for airplanes/ground vehicles and centripetal accelerations ?

Does it also gives "angle of attack" or pitch relative to the trajectory (sorry, i don't know how to describe it) ?
PX4 August 2, 2012 at 4:49am

For those wanting to play with the toolchain: This new version addresses all issues so far mentioned. The reason it did not work on some systems is that those have another MSYS or MinGW version installed, which cluttered the global variable space. This improved version makes sure to clear out all relevant variables and should resolve any remaining issue.

http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/lomeier/px4_toolchain_installer_v2_...
PX4 August 2, 2012 at 12:11am

@Hyon The attitude estimator is a standard EKF Kalman filter, once implemented as constant gain and once as full-fledged EKF.
Hyon Lim August 1, 2012 at 8:37pm

@PX4

A document for AHRS algorithm exist? For example, as described in http://wiki.openpilot.org/display/Doc/INSGPS+Algorithm
PX4 August 1, 2012 at 7:47pm

@monroe - The default sensor set is part of the PX4FMU board, so replacing those would involve finding physically compatible alternatives that meet your needs. Earlier in the design we discussed having a sub-carrier for the sensor suite, but it added substantially to the cost of the board as well as being a manufacturing challenge.

However, there's nothing intrinsic to the software or hardware architecture that would prevent you from adding external sensors, e.g. via an expansion board tailored for rocketry use. The software architecture is certainly flexible enough to accommodate this sort of change.

Please encourage your rocket guys to get involved; this is an open project and we're always interested in new applications and perspectives. I expect that we have a lot to learn from your community.
PX4 August 1, 2012 at 2:21am

Roberto, did you start the download script via:

Start -> All Programs -> PX4 Toolchain -> PX4 Software Update?

Or did you start it differently?

In the meantime here is an updated link for the answers page, the link above is not yet active:

http://pixhawk.ethz.ch:8000/questions/

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