PX4 User Guide
  • Introduction
  • Getting Started
    • Basic Concepts
    • Vehicles/Frames
    • Flight Controllers
    • Sensors
    • Radio Systems
    • Flight Modes
    • Vehicle Status Notifications
      • LED Meanings
      • Tune/Sound Meanings
      • Preflight Checks
    • Payloads & Cameras
    • Flight Reporting
  • Basic Assembly
    • Mounting the Flight Controller
    • Mounting the GPS/Compass
    • Vibration Isolation
    • Cable Wiring
    • CUAV Pixhawk V6X Wiring QuickStart
    • CUAV V5+ Wiring Quickstart
    • CUAV V5 nano Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 6C Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 6X Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 5X Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 4 Wiring Quickstart - Discontinued
    • Holybro Pixhawk 4 Mini Wiring Quickstart - Discontinued
    • Holybro Durandal Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pix32 v5 Wiring Quickstart
    • Cube Wiring Quickstart
    • Pixracer Wiring Quickstart
    • mRo (3DR) Pixhawk Wiring Quickstart
  • Standard Configuration
    • Firmware
    • Airframe
    • Sensor Orientation
    • Compass
    • Gyroscope
    • Accelerometer
    • Airspeed
    • Level Horizon Calibration
    • Radio Setup
    • Joystick Setup
    • Flight Modes
    • Battery
    • Safety
      • Failsafe Simulation
    • ESC Calibration
    • Actuators
    • Autotune
  • Vehicle Types & Setup
    • Multicopters
      • Multicopter Config/Tuning
        • MC Filter/Control Latency Tuning
        • MC PID Tuning (Manual/Basic)
        • MC PID Tuning Guide (Manual/Advanced)
        • MC Setpoint Tuning (Trajectory Generator)
          • MC Jerk-limited Type Trajectory
        • Multicopter Racer Setup
      • X500 v2 (Pixhawk 6C)
      • X500 v2 (Pixhawk 5X)
      • X500 (Pixhawk 4)
      • S500 V2 (Pixhawk 4)
      • DJI F450 (CUAV v5+)
      • DJI F450 (CUAV v5 nano)
      • QAV250 (Pixhawk4 Mini) - Discontinued
      • DJI F450 + RTK (Pixhawk 3 Pro)
      • QAV250 (Pixhawk Mini)
      • QAV-R 5" Racer (Pixracer)
      • Omnicopter
    • Planes
      • Fixed Wing Config/Tuning
        • Fixedwing PID Tuning Guide
        • Fixedwing Advanced Tuning Guide
        • Fixedwing Trimming Guide
      • Reptile Dragon 2 (ARK6X)
      • Turbo Timber Evolution (Pixhawk 4 Mini)
      • Wing Wing Z84 (Pixracer)
    • VTOL
      • VTOL Config/Tuning
        • QuadPlane Configuration
        • Back-transition Tuning
        • VTOL w/o Airspeed Sensor
        • VTOL Weather Vane
      • Standard VTOL
        • FunCub QuadPlane (Pixhawk)
        • Ranger QuadPlane (Pixhawk)
        • Falcon Vertigo QuadPlane (Dropix)
      • Tailsitter VTOL
        • Build: TBS Caipiroshka Tailsitter Build (Pixracer)
      • Tiltrotor VTOL
        • Build: Convergence Tiltrotor (Pixfalcon)
    • Airships (experimental)
    • Autogyros (experimental)
      • ThunderFly Auto-G2 (Holybro pix32)
    • Balloons (experimental)
    • Helicopter (experimental)
      • Helicopter Config/Tuning
    • Rovers (experimental)
      • Traxxas Stampede
    • Submarines (experimental)
      • BlueROV2
    • Airframes Reference
  • Flying
    • First Flight Guidelines
    • Flying 101
    • Missions
      • Package Delivery Mission
    • GeoFence
    • Safety Point Planning
    • Flight Modes
      • Position Mode (MC)
      • Altitude Mode (MC)
      • Manual/Stabilized Mode (MC)
      • Acro Mode (MC)
      • Orbit Mode (MC)
      • Position Mode (FW)
      • Altitude Mode (FW)
      • Stabilized Mode (FW)
      • Acro Mode (FW)
      • Manual Mode (FW)
      • Takeoff Mode
      • Land Mode
      • Return Mode
      • Hold Mode
      • Mission Mode
      • Follow Me Mode
      • Offboard Mode
    • Terrain Following/Holding
  • Flight Log Analysis
    • Log Analysis using Flight Review
    • Log Analysis using PlotJuggler
  • Advanced Configuration
    • Finding/Updating Parameters
    • Full Parameter Reference
    • ECL/EKF Overview & Tuning
    • Flight Termination Configuration
    • Bootloader Flashing onto Betaflight Systems
    • Land Detector Configuration
    • Prearm/Arm/Disarm Configuration
    • IMU Factory Calibration
    • Sensor Thermal Compensation
    • Compass Power Compensation
    • Advanced Controller Orientation
    • Static Pressure Buildup
    • Serial Port Configuration
    • MAVLink Telemetry (OSD/GCS)
    • PX4 Ethernet Setup
    • Bootloader Update
  • Hardware (Drones&Parts)
    • Complete Vehicles
      • ModalAI Starling
      • PX4 Vision Kit
      • MindRacer BNF & RTF
        • MindRacer 210
        • NanoMind 110
      • Holybro Kopis 2
      • Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.1
    • Flight Controllers (Autopilots)
      • Pixhawk Series
        • Silicon Errata
      • Pixhawk Standard Autopilots
        • CUAV Pixhawk V6X (FMUv6X)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 6X (FMUv6X)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 6C (FMUv6C)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 6C Mini(FMUv6C)
        • Holybro Pix32 v6 (FMUv6C)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 5X (FMUv5X)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 4 (FMUv5) - Discontinued
        • Holybro Pixhawk 4 Mini (FMUv5) - Discontinued
        • Drotek Pixhawk 3 Pro (FMUv4pro)
        • mRo Pixracer (FMUv4)
        • Hex Cube Black (FMUv3)
        • mRo Pixhawk (FMUv3)
        • Holybro Pixhawk Mini (FMUv3) - Discontinued
      • Manufacturer-Supported Autopilots
        • AirMind MindPX
        • AirMind MindRacer
        • ARK Electronics ARKV6X
        • CUAV X7
        • CUAV Nora
        • CUAV V5+ (FMUv5)
        • CUAV V5 nano (FMUv5)
        • CUAV Pixhack v3 (FMUv3)
        • CubePilot Cube Orange+ (CubePilot)
        • CubePilot Cube Orange (CubePilot)
        • CubePilot Cube Yellow (CubePilot)
        • Holybro Kakute H7v2
        • Holybro Kakute H7mini
        • Holybro Kakute H7
        • Holybro Durandal
        • Holybro Pix32 v5
        • ModalAI Flight Core v1
        • ModalAI VOXL Flight
        • ModalAI VOXL 2
        • mRobotics-X2.1 (FMUv2)
        • mRo Control Zero F7)
        • NXP RDDRONE-FMUK66 FMU
        • Sky-Drones AIRLink
        • SPRacing SPRacingH7EXTREME
        • ThePeach FCC-K1
        • ThePeach FCC-R1
      • Experimental Autopilots
        • BeagleBone Blue
        • Raspberry Pi 2/3 Navio2
        • Raspberry Pi 2/3/4 PilotPi
          • PilotPi with Raspberry Pi OS
          • PilotPi with Ubuntu Server
      • Discontinued Autopilots/Vehicles
        • Drotek Dropix (FMUv2)
        • Omnibus F4 SD
        • BetaFPV Beta75X 2S Brushless Whoop
        • Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.0
        • Aerotenna OcPoC-Zynq Mini
        • CUAV v5
        • Holybro Kakute F7 (Discontinued)
        • Holybro Pixfalcon
        • Holybro pix32 (FMUv2)
        • mRo AUAV-X2
        • 3DR Pixhawk 1
        • Snapdragon Flight
        • Intel® Aero RTF Drone (Discontinued)
      • Pixhawk Autopilot Bus (PAB) & Carriers
        • ARK Electronics Pixhawk Autopilot Bus Carrier
    • Flight Controller Peripherals
      • ADSB/FLARM (Traffic Avoidance)
      • Air Traffic Avoidance: ADSB/FLARM
      • Air Traffic Avoidance: UTM
      • Airspeed Sensors
        • TFSlot Airspeed Sensor
      • Barometers
      • Camera
      • Distance Sensors (Rangefinders)
        • Lightware SFxx Lidar
        • Ainstein US-D1 Standard Radar Altimeter
        • LeddarOne Lidar
        • Benewake TFmini Lidar
        • Lidar-Lite
        • TeraRanger
        • Lanbao PSK-CM8JL65-CC5
        • Avionics Anonymous Laser Altimeter UAVCAN Interface
      • ESCs & Motors
        • PWM ESCs and Servos
        • DShot ESCs
        • OneShot ESCs and Servos
        • DroneCAN ESCs
          • Zubax Telega
          • PX4 Sapog ESC Firmware
            • Holybro Kotleta
            • Zubax Orel
        • VESC
      • TBS Crossfire (CRSF) Telemetry
      • FrSky Telemetry
      • Gimbal (Mount) Configuration
      • GPS/Compass
        • ARK GPS
        • Holybro DroneCAN M8N GPS
        • LOCOSYS Hawk A1 GNSS
        • Hex Here2
        • Holybro M8N & M9N GPS
        • Sky-Drones SmartAP GPS
      • Grippers
        • Servo Gripper
      • Optical Flow
        • ARK Flow
        • PMW3901
        • PX4FLOW (Deprecated)
      • Precision Landing
      • Parachute
      • Power Modules/PDB
        • CUAV HV pm
        • CUAV CAN PMU
        • Holybro PM02
        • Holybro PM07
        • Holybro PM06 V2
        • Holybro PM02D (digital)
        • Holybro PM03D (digital)
        • Pomegranate Systems Power Module
        • Sky-Drones SmartAP PDB
      • Satellite Coms (Iridium/RockBlock)
      • Telemetry Radios
        • SiK Radio
          • RFD900 (SiK) Telemetry Radio
          • HolyBro (SIK) Telemetry Radio
        • Telemetry Wifi
          • ESP8266 WiFi Module
          • ESP32 WiFi Module
          • 3DR Telemetry Wifi (Discontinued)
        • Microhard Serial Telemetry Radio
          • ARK Electron Microhard Serial Telemetry Radio
          • Holybro Microhard P900 Telemetry Radio
        • CUAV P8 Telemetry Radio
        • HolyBro XBP9X - Discontinued
      • RTK GPS
        • ARK RTK GPS
        • RTK GPS Heading with Dual u-blox F9P
        • CUAV C-RTK
        • CUAV C-RTK2 PPK/RTK GNSS
        • CUAV C-RTK 9Ps
        • Femtones MINI2 Receiver
        • Freefly RTK GPS
        • Holybro H-RTK-F9P
        • Holybro H-RTK-M8P
        • Holybro H-RTK Unicore UM982 GPS
        • Locosys Hawk R1
        • Locosys Hawk R2
        • Septentrio AsteRx-RIB
        • Septentrio mosaic-go
        • Trimble MB-Two
        • CubePilot Here+ (Discontined)
      • Remote ID
      • Smart Batteries
        • Rotoye Batmon Battery Smartification Kit
      • Tachometers (Revolution Counters)
        • ThunderFly TFRPM01 Tachometer Sensor
      • I2C Peripherals
        • I2C bus accelerators
        • TFI2CADT01 I2C address translator
      • CAN Peripherals
      • DroneCAN Peripherals
        • PX4 DroneCAN Firmware
        • ARK CANnode
    • Companion Computers
      • Pixhawk + Companion Setup
        • RasPi Pixhawk Companion
      • Companion Computer Peripherals
      • Holybro Pixhawk RPI CM4 Baseboard
      • Auterion Skynode
      • Computer Vision
        • Obstacle Avoidance
        • Safe Landing
        • Collision Prevention
        • Path Planning Interface
        • Motion Capture (MoCap)
        • Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO)
          • Realsense T265 Tracking Camera (VIO)
      • Video Streaming
  • Development
    • Getting Started
      • Recommended Hardware/Setup
      • Toolchain Installation
        • MacOS Setup
        • Ubuntu Setup
        • Windows Setup
        • Visual Studio Code IDE
        • Other/Generic Tools
      • Building the Code
      • Writing your First Application
      • Application/Module Template
    • Concepts
      • PX4 Architecture
      • PX4 Flight Stack Architecture
        • Controller Diagrams
      • Events Interface
      • Flight Modes
      • Flight Tasks
      • Control Allocation
      • PWM limit state machine
      • System Startup
      • SD Card Layout
    • Simulation
      • jMAVSim Simulation
        • Multi-Vehicle Sim with JMAVSim
      • Gazebo Simulation
        • Vehicles
        • Multi-Vehicle Sim
      • Gazebo Classic Simulation
        • Vehicles
        • Worlds
        • Multi-Vehicle Sim
      • FlightGear Simulation
        • FlightGear Vehicles
        • Multi-Vehicle Sim with FlightGear
      • JSBSim Simulation
      • AirSim Simulation
      • Multi-Vehicle Simulation
      • Simulate Failsafes
      • HITL Simulation
      • Simulation-In-Hardware
    • Hardware
      • Flight Controller Reference Design
      • Manufacturer’s Board Support Guide
      • Flight Controller Porting Guide
        • PX4 Board Configuration (kconfig)
        • NuttX Board Porting Guide
      • Serial Port Mapping
      • Airframes
        • Adding a New Airframe
      • Device Drivers
      • Telemetry Radio
        • SiK Radio
      • Sensor and Actuator I/O
        • DroneCAN
        • I2C Bus
        • UART/Serial Ports
          • Port-Configurable Serial Drivers
      • RTK GPS (Integration)
    • Middleware
      • uORB Messaging
      • uORB Graph
      • uORB Message Reference
        • ActionRequest
        • ActuatorArmed
        • ActuatorControlsStatus
        • ActuatorMotors
        • ActuatorOutputs
        • ActuatorServos
        • ActuatorServosTrim
        • ActuatorTest
        • AdcReport
        • Airspeed
        • AirspeedValidated
        • AirspeedWind
        • AutotuneAttitudeControlStatus
        • BatteryStatus
        • ButtonEvent
        • CameraCapture
        • CameraStatus
        • CameraTrigger
        • CellularStatus
        • CollisionConstraints
        • CollisionReport
        • ControlAllocatorStatus
        • Cpuload
        • DebugArray
        • DebugKeyValue
        • DebugValue
        • DebugVect
        • DifferentialPressure
        • DistanceSensor
        • Ekf2Timestamps
        • EscReport
        • EscStatus
        • EstimatorAidSource1d
        • EstimatorAidSource2d
        • EstimatorAidSource3d
        • EstimatorBias
        • EstimatorBias3d
        • EstimatorEventFlags
        • EstimatorGpsStatus
        • EstimatorInnovations
        • EstimatorSelectorStatus
        • EstimatorSensorBias
        • EstimatorStates
        • EstimatorStatus
        • EstimatorStatusFlags
        • Event
        • FailsafeFlags
        • FailureDetectorStatus
        • FollowTarget
        • FollowTargetEstimator
        • FollowTargetStatus
        • GeneratorStatus
        • GeofenceResult
        • GimbalControls
        • GimbalDeviceAttitudeStatus
        • GimbalDeviceInformation
        • GimbalDeviceSetAttitude
        • GimbalManagerInformation
        • GimbalManagerSetAttitude
        • GimbalManagerSetManualControl
        • GimbalManagerStatus
        • GpioConfig
        • GpioIn
        • GpioOut
        • GpioRequest
        • GpsDump
        • GpsInjectData
        • Gripper
        • HealthReport
        • HeaterStatus
        • HomePosition
        • HoverThrustEstimate
        • InputRc
        • InternalCombustionEngineStatus
        • IridiumsbdStatus
        • IrlockReport
        • LandingGear
        • LandingGearWheel
        • LandingTargetInnovations
        • LandingTargetPose
        • LaunchDetectionStatus
        • LedControl
        • LogMessage
        • LoggerStatus
        • MagWorkerData
        • MagnetometerBiasEstimate
        • ManualControlSetpoint
        • ManualControlSwitches
        • MavlinkLog
        • MavlinkTunnel
        • Mission
        • MissionResult
        • ModeCompleted
        • MountOrientation
        • NavigatorMissionItem
        • NormalizedUnsignedSetpoint
        • NpfgStatus
        • ObstacleDistance
        • OffboardControlMode
        • OnboardComputerStatus
        • OrbTest
        • OrbTestLarge
        • OrbTestMedium
        • OrbitStatus
        • ParameterUpdate
        • Ping
        • PositionControllerLandingStatus
        • PositionControllerStatus
        • PositionSetpoint
        • PositionSetpointTriplet
        • PowerButtonState
        • PowerMonitor
        • PpsCapture
        • PwmInput
        • Px4ioStatus
        • QshellReq
        • QshellRetval
        • RadioStatus
        • RateCtrlStatus
        • RcChannels
        • RcParameterMap
        • Rpm
        • RtlTimeEstimate
        • SatelliteInfo
        • SensorAccel
        • SensorAccelFifo
        • SensorBaro
        • SensorCombined
        • SensorCorrection
        • SensorGnssRelative
        • SensorGps
        • SensorGyro
        • SensorGyroFft
        • SensorGyroFifo
        • SensorHygrometer
        • SensorMag
        • SensorOpticalFlow
        • SensorPreflightMag
        • SensorUwb
        • SensorSelection
        • SensorsStatus
        • SensorsStatusImu
        • SystemPower
        • TakeoffStatus
        • TaskStackInfo
        • TecsStatus
        • TelemetryStatus
        • TiltrotorExtraControls
        • TimesyncStatus
        • TrajectoryBezier
        • TrajectorySetpoint
        • TrajectoryWaypoint
        • TransponderReport
        • TuneControl
        • UavcanParameterRequest
        • UavcanParameterValue
        • UlogStream
        • UlogStreamAck
        • UwbDistance
        • UwbGrid
        • VehicleAcceleration
        • VehicleAirData
        • VehicleAngularAccelerationSetpoint
        • VehicleAngularVelocity
        • VehicleAttitude
        • VehicleAttitudeSetpoint
        • VehicleCommand
        • VehicleCommandAck
        • VehicleConstraints
        • VehicleControlMode
        • VehicleGlobalPosition
        • VehicleImu
        • VehicleImuStatus
        • VehicleLandDetected
        • VehicleLocalPosition
        • VehicleLocalPositionSetpoint
        • VehicleMagnetometer
        • VehicleOdometry
        • VehicleOpticalFlow
        • VehicleOpticalFlowVel
        • VehicleRatesSetpoint
        • VehicleRoi
        • VehicleStatus
        • VehicleThrustSetpoint
        • VehicleTorqueSetpoint
        • VehicleTrajectoryBezier
        • VehicleTrajectoryWaypoint
        • VtolVehicleStatus
        • Wind
        • YawEstimatorStatus
      • MAVLink Messaging
      • uXRCE-DDS (PX4-ROS 2/DDS Bridge)
    • Modules & Commands
      • Autotune
      • Commands
      • Communication
      • Controllers
      • Drivers
        • Airspeed Sensor
        • Baro
        • Distance Sensor
        • IMU
        • INS
        • Magnetometer
        • Optical Flow
        • Rpm Sensor
        • Transponder
      • Estimators
      • Simulations
      • System
      • Template
    • Debugging/Logging
      • FAQ
      • Consoles/Shells
        • MAVLink Shell
        • System Console
      • Debugging with GDB
        • SWD Debug Port
        • JLink Probe
        • Black Magic/DroneCode Probe
        • STLink Probe
        • Hardfault Debugging
      • Debugging with Eclipse
      • Failure Injection
      • Sensor/Topic Debugging
      • Simulation Debugging
      • Sending Debug Values
      • System-wide Replay
      • Profiling
      • Binary Size Profiling
      • Logging
      • Flight Log Analysis
      • ULog File Format
    • Tutorials
      • Long-distance Video Streaming
      • Connecting an RC Receiver on Linux
    • Advanced Topics
      • Parameters & Configs
      • Package Delivery Architecture
      • Computer Vision
        • Motion Capture (VICON, Optitrack, NOKOV)
      • Installing driver for Intel RealSense R200
      • Switching State Estimators
      • Out-of-Tree Modules
      • STM32 Bootloader
      • System Tunes
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        • CentOS Linux
        • Arch Linux
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    • Platform Testing and CI
      • Test Flights
        • Test MC_01 - Manual Modes
        • Test MC_02 - Full Autonomous
        • Test MC_03 - Auto Manual Mix
        • Test MC_04 - Failsafe Testing
        • Test MC_05 - Indoor Flight (Manual Modes)
      • Unit Tests
      • Continuous Integration
      • MAVSDK Integration Testing
      • ROS Integration Testing
      • Docker Containers
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  • Drone Apps & APIs
    • Offboard Control from Linux
    • ROS
      • ROS 2
        • ROS 2 User Guide
        • ROS 2 Offboard Control Example
        • ROS 2 Multi Vehicle Simulation
      • ROS 1 with MAVROS
        • ROS/MAVROS Installation Guide
        • ROS/MAVROS Offboard Example (C++)
        • ROS/MAVROS Offboard Example (Python)
        • ROS/MAVROS Sending Custom Messages
        • ROS/MAVROS with Gazebo Classic Simulation
        • Gazebo Classic OctoMap Models with ROS 1
        • ROS/MAVROS Installation on RPi
        • External Position Estimation (Vision/Motion based)
    • DroneKit
  • Contribution (&Dev Call)
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    • 1.14
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On this page
  • Video Guide
  • Simulation and NuttX (Pixhawk) Targets
  • Raspberry Pi
  • GCC (armhf)
  • GCC (aarch64)
  • Clang (optional)
  • Detailed Information
  • ROS 2
  • ROS/Gazebo Classic
  • ROS Noetic/Ubuntu 20.04
  • ROS Melodic/Ubuntu 18.04
  • Next Steps
  1. Development
  2. Getting Started
  3. Toolchain Installation

Ubuntu Setup

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Last updated 1 year ago

The following instructions set up a PX4 development environment on the Ubuntu Linux LTS versions supported by PX4. This includes: 18.04 (Bionic Beaver), 20.04 (Focal Fossa), and Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish).

Bash scripts are provided to simplify the process. They are intended to be run on clean Ubuntu LTS installations, and may not work if run "on top" of an existing system, or on a different Ubuntu release.

The are:

  • Simulation and NuttX (Pixhawk) Targets. This includes: Gazebo, Gazebo Classic, jMAVSim, ).

  • Raspberry Pi

  • ROS 2 (Robotics Operating System)

  • ROS 1 (Robotics Operating System)

:::tip This setup is supported by the PX4 dev team. The instructions may also work on other Debian Linux based systems. :::

Video Guide

This video shows how to install the toolchain for NuttX and simulation targets (as covered below) along with the basic testing covered in Building PX4 Software.

@youtube.

Simulation and NuttX (Pixhawk) Targets

:::warning ROS users should first read/skip ahead to the ROS/Gazebo or ROS 2 sections. :::

Use the ubuntu.sh script to set up a development environment that allows you to build for simulators and/or the toolchain. The script installs jMAVSim on all targets, Gazebo Classic 9 on Ubuntu 18.04, Gazebo Classic 11 on Ubuntu 20.04, and Gazebo "Garden" on Ubuntu 22.04.

To install the toolchain:

  1. Download PX4 Source Code:

    git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive
  2. Run the ubuntu.sh with no arguments (in a bash shell) to install everything:

    bash ./PX4-Autopilot/Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh
    • Acknowledge any prompts as the script progress.

    • You can use the --no-nuttx and --no-sim-tools options to omit the NuttX and/or simulation tools.

  3. Restart the computer on completion.

:::details Additional notes These notes are provided "for information only":

  • You can verify the NuttX installation by confirming the gcc version as shown:

    $arm-none-eabi-gcc --version
    
    arm-none-eabi-gcc (GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 9-2020-q2-update) 9.3.1 20200408 (release)
    Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
    warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
  • You're going to need the PX4 source code anyway. But if you just wanted to set up the development environment without getting all the source code you could instead just download ubuntu.sh and requirements.txt and then run ubuntu.sh:

    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/main/Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/main/Tools/setup/requirements.txt
    bash ubuntu.sh

:::

Raspberry Pi

The following instructions explain how to set up a build toolchain for RasPi on Ubuntu 18.04.

To get the common dependencies for Raspberry Pi:

  1. Download ubuntu.sh and requirements.txt from the PX4 source repository (/Tools/setup/):

    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/main/Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/main/Tools/setup/requirements.txt
  2. Run ubuntu.sh in a terminal to get just the common dependencies:

    bash ubuntu.sh --no-nuttx --no-sim-tools
  3. Then setup an cross-compiler (either GCC or clang) as described in the following sections.

GCC (armhf)

Ubuntu software repository provides a set of pre-compiled toolchains. Note that Ubuntu Focal comes up with gcc-9-arm-linux-gnueabihf as its default installation which is not fully supported, so we must manually install gcc-8-arm-linux-gnueabihf and set it as the default toolchain. This guide also applies to earlier Ubuntu releases (Bionic). The following instruction assumes you haven't installed any version of arm-linux-gnueabihf, and will set up the default executable with update-alternatives. Install them with the terminal command:

sudo apt-get install -y gcc-8-arm-linux-gnueabihf g++-8-arm-linux-gnueabihf

Set them as default:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc-8 100 --slave /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++ arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++ /usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++-8
sudo update-alternatives --config arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc

GCC (aarch64)

If you want to build PX4 for ARM64 devices, this section is required.

sudo apt-get install -y gcc-8-aarch64-linux-gnu g++-8-aarch64-linux-gnu
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc /usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc-8 100 --slave /usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-g++ aarch64-linux-gnu-g++ /usr/bin/aarch64-linux-gnu-g++-8
sudo update-alternatives --config aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc

Clang (optional)

First install GCC (needed to use clang).

We recommend you to get clang from the Ubuntu software repository, as shown below:

sudo apt-get install clang

Example below for building PX4 firmware out of tree, using CMake.

cd <PATH-TO-PX4-SRC>
mkdir build/px4_raspberrypi_default_clang
cd build/px4_raspberrypi_default_clang
cmake \
-G"Unix Makefiles" \
-DCONFIG=px4_raspberrypi_default \
-UCMAKE_C_COMPILER \
-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=clang \
-UCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER \
-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=clang++ \
../..
make

Detailed Information

Additional developer information for using PX4 on Raspberry Pi (including building PX4 natively) can be found here:

  • Raspberry Pi 2/3 Navio2 Autopilot.

  • Raspberry Pi 2/3/4 PilotPi Shield.

ROS 2

Information about ROS 2 setup and development with PX4 can be found in the ROS 2 User Guide.

Generally speaking if you're working with hardware and don't need to modify PX4 itself, then you do not need a PX4 development environment (dependencies for working with ROS 2 are included and built into PX4 firmware by default).

You will need to install the normal development simulator environment in order to work with the PX4 simulator.

ROS/Gazebo Classic

This section explains how to install ROS 1 with PX4. ROS 1 full desktop builds come with Gazebo Classic, so normally you will not install PX4 simulator dependencies yourself!

ROS Noetic/Ubuntu 20.04

If you're working with ROS Noetic on Ubuntu 20.04:

  1. Install PX4 without the simulator toolchain:

    1. Download PX4 Source Code:

      git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive
    2. Run the ubuntu.sh the --no-sim-tools (and optionally --no-nuttx):

      bash ./PX4-Autopilot/Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh --no-sim-tools --no-nuttx
      • Acknowledge any prompts as the script progress.

    3. Restart the computer on completion.

  2. You may need to install the following additional dependencies:

    sudo apt-get install protobuf-compiler libeigen3-dev libopencv-dev -y
  3. Follow the Noetic Installation instructions (ros-noetic-desktop-full is recommended).

  4. Intall MAVROS by following the MAVROS Installation Guide.

ROS Melodic/Ubuntu 18.04

If you're working with ROS "Melodic on Ubuntu 18.04:

  1. Download the ubuntu_sim_ros_melodic.sh script in a bash shell:

    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/Devguide/master/build_scripts/ubuntu_sim_ros_melodic.sh
  2. Run the script:

    bash ubuntu_sim_ros_melodic.sh

    You may need to acknowledge some prompts as the script progresses.

:::note

  • ROS Melodic is installed with Gazebo (Classic) 9 by default.

  • Your catkin (ROS build system) workspace is created at ~/catkin_ws/.

  • The script uses instructions from the ROS Wiki "Melodic" Ubuntu page. :::

Next Steps

Once you have finished setting up the command-line toolchain:

  • Install VSCode (if you prefer using an IDE to the command line).

  • Install the QGroundControl Daily Build :::tip The daily build includes development tools that hidden in release builds. It may also provide access to new PX4 features that are not yet supported in release builds. :::

  • Continue to the build instructions.

:::note The environment setup scripts in the source usually work for recent PX4 releases. If working with an older version of PX4 you may need to . :::

If you want to use Gazebo on Ubuntu 20.04 you can add it manually. See .

:::warning To build for Ubuntu 20.04 (focal) you must use docker (the GCC toolchain on Ubuntu 20.04 can build PX4, but the generated binary files are too new to run on actual Pi). For more information see . :::

Gazebo > Installation
get the source code specific to your release
supported targets
Pixhawk and other NuttX-based hardware
NuttX/Pixhawk
PilotPi with Raspberry Pi OS Developer Quick Start > Alternative build method using docker