Recommended Hardware/Setup

We recommend that developers obtain the basic equipment and software described below (or similar)

Basic Equipment

:::tip PX4 can be used with a much wider range of equipment than described here, but new developers will benefit from going with one of the standard setups. A Taranis RC plus a Note 4 tablet make up for a very inexpensive field kit. :::

The equipment below is highly recommended:

  • Remote control for the safety pilot

    • Taranis Plus remote control (or equivalent)

  • Development computer

    • MacBook Pro (early 2015 and later) with OSX 10.15 or later

    • Lenovo Thinkpad 450 (i5) with Ubuntu Linux 18.04 or later

  • Ground control station (computer or tablet):

    • iPad (requires Wifi telemetry adapter)

    • Any MacBook or Ubuntu Linux laptop (can be the development computer)

    • Samsung Note 4 or equivalent (any recent Android tablet or phone with a large enough screen to run QGroundControl effectively).

  • Vehicle capable of running PX4:

  • Safety glasses

  • Tether (multicopter only - for more risky tests)

Vehicle Configuration

Install the QGroundControl Daily Build for a desktop OS.

To configure the vehicle:

  1. Install PX4 firmware (including "custom" firmware with your own changes).

  2. Start with the airframe that best-matches your vehicle from the airframe reference.

  3. Basic Configuration explains how to perform basic configuration.

  4. Parameter Configuration explains how you can find and modify individual parameters.

:::note

  • QGroundControl mobile variants do not support vehicle configuration.

  • The daily build includes development tools and new features that are not available in the official release.

  • Configuration in the airframe reference have been flown on real vehicles, and are a good starting point for "getting off the ground". :::

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