PX4 Firmware

Today (10.2.2019) the firmware for the PX4 is a custom build based on the 1.8.2 release. The firmware is maintained in the github repository:

SearchWing PX4 Firmware

This is a fork from the PX4 Firmware maintained by PX4 team. I have contributed two commits to the firmware which landed in upstream

• X-UAV Mini Talon airframe
• A fix for the airframe

The above changes to the upstream firmware are after the 1.8.2 release. I cherry-picked the above changes and applied them to the stable (1.8.2) branch. All changes for searchwing are maintained in the

• searchwing18 branch

which branched off the stable branch from upstream. The changes for the reduced Telemetry2 activity are missing.

The build command for the 1.8.2 based firmeware is

make px4fmu-v4_default

Note the missing “_” compared to the official build description. You can find out the possible build targets via

make help
make list_config_targets

The firmware is installed on the PixRacer via the QGroundControl Software. You have to select the “Custom Firmware File” that you find in the folder “Firmware/build”. The name of the firmware file is “px4fmu-v4_default.px4”.

The SearchWing Firmware version is displayed in QGC as 1.8.2dev, i.e. the internal 1.8.2-1 or 1.8.2-2 is not shown directly. This can be done via the Mavlink Console. You can figure out the firmware version via

ver all

You can then compare the git hash.

Make sure that only the mag sensor in the GPS Module is enabled. The two mag sensors in the pixracer should be disabled, because there is too much disturbance from the power cable below the autopilot. When the mRobotics GPS Module is installed with the arrow showing forward, then the mag sensor has a rotation of 90 Degrees Yaw (yes, this is strange). The parameters have to be setup like this

• CAL_MAG0_EN=1 (Enabled)
• CAL_MAG0_ROT=2 (Yaw 90 Degrees)
• CAL_MAG1_EN=CAL_MAG2_EN=0 (Disabled)

After the mag setup is changed, the mag sensors have to be calibrated. If you see a “Mag Inconsistent Error” in QGC, then this setup is wrong.

• Based on upstream 1.8.2
• Added X-UAV Mini Talon Airframe
• searchwing-1.8.2-1.px4.zip

• Added Björns minimal telemetry patch for the Raspberry Pi Camera Trigger from the autopilot
• searchwing-1.8.2-2.px4.zip