Unlike pipes, unix sockets provide bi-directional
communication with each connected client.
- No need to generate a unique uuid per client anymore.
- The client doesn't have to create its own pipe anymore.
- Since there is no risk of multiple client's writes getting mixed up,
messages don't need to fit in a single write anymore, removing the
limit on command length.
- Since the server can detect a connection closing, the client no longer
needs to handle signals. When the client is killed, the connection is
automatically closed, which will cause the server to kill the related
px4 thread.
Since this does not rely on handling signals and the client sending an
additional message, this is much more reliable.
- Client is no longer a singleton.
- The protocol is simplified. Standard output is directly written to the
socket back to the client, without wrapping it in any protocol
message.
- Because of the simple protocol, one could now even use netcat to run a
px4 command:
$ echo hello | netcat -UN /tmp/px4-sock-0
Also removes a few race conditions.
PX4 Drone Autopilot
This repository holds the PX4 flight control solution for drones, with the main applications located in the src/modules directory. It also contains the PX4 Drone Middleware Platform, which provides drivers and middleware to run drones.
- Official Website: http://px4.io (License: BSD 3-clause, LICENSE)
- Supported airframes (portfolio):
- Multicopters
- Fixed wing
- VTOL
- many more experimental types (Rovers, Blimps, Boats, Submarines, etc)
- Releases: Downloads
PX4 Users
The PX4 User Guide explains how to assemble supported vehicles and fly drones with PX4. See the forum and chat if you need help!
PX4 Developers
This Developer Guide is for software developers who want to modify the flight stack and middleware (e.g. to add new flight modes), hardware integrators who want to support new flight controller boards and peripherals, and anyone who wants to get PX4 working on a new (unsupported) airframe/vehicle.
Developers should read the Guide for Contributions. See the forum and chat if you need help!
Weekly Dev Call
The PX4 Dev Team syncs up on a weekly dev call.
Note
The dev call is open to all interested developers (not just the core dev team). This is a great opportunity to meet the team and contribute to the ongoing development of the platform. It includes a QA session for newcomers. All regular calls are listed in the Dronecode calendar.
Maintenance Team
- Project: Founder - Lorenz Meier, Architecture: Daniel Agar
- Communication Architecture
- UI / UX
- Multicopter Flight Control
- VTOL Flight Control
- Fixed Wing Flight Control
- Racers - Matthias Grob
- OS / drivers - David Sidrane
- UAVCAN / Industrial - Pavel Kirienko
- State Estimation - James Goppert, Paul Riseborough
- Vision based navigation
- Obstacle Avoidance - Martina Rivizzigno
- Snapdragon
- Intel Aero
- Raspberry Pi / Navio - Beat Kueng
- Airmind MindPX / MindRacer - Henry Zhang
- RTPS/ROS2 Interface - Nuno Marques
See also About Us (px4.io) and the contributors list (Github).
Supported Hardware
This repository contains code supporting these boards:
- Snapdragon Flight
- Intel Aero
- Raspberry PI with Navio 2
- Parrot Bebop 2
- FMUv2.x
- FMUv3.x Pixhawk 2
- FMUv4.x
- FMUv5.x (ARM Cortex M7, future Pixhawk)
- Gumstix AeroCore (only v2)
- Airmind MindPX V2.8
- Airmind MindRacer V1.2
- Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.0
Additional information about supported hardware can be found in PX4 user Guide > Autopilot Hardware.
Project Roadmap
A high level project roadmap is available here.