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
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    • Concepts
      • PX4 Architecture
      • PX4 Flight Stack Architecture
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      • 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
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        • SiK Radio
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        • I2C Bus
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          • Port-Configurable Serial Drivers
      • RTK GPS (Integration)
    • Middleware
      • uORB Messaging
      • uORB Graph
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        • ActionRequest
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On this page
  • Boards using PMW3901
  • External Rangefinders
  • Mounting/Orientation
  • PX4 Configuration
  • Bitcraze Flow Breakout
  • SPI Wiring
  • I2C Wiring
  • Tindie PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
  • AlienTek ATK-PMW3901
  • Hex HereFlow PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
  • DroneCAN Wiring/Setup
  • Holybro PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
  • Thone ThoneFlow-3901U
  1. Hardware (Drones&Parts)
  2. Flight Controller Peripherals
  3. Optical Flow

PMW3901

PreviousARK FlowNextPX4FLOW (Deprecated)

Last updated 1 year ago

PMW3901 is an ASIC that computes the flow internally and provides a difference in pixels between each frame. It uses a tracking sensor that is similar to what you would find in a computer mouse, but adapted to work between 80 mm and infinity. The PMW3901 is used in several products, including some from Bitcraze, Tindie, Hex, Thone, and Alientek

This topic provides links to sensors that have been tested, along with information about mounting and PX4 configuration (this is common to all sensors of this type).

Boards using PMW3901

The following table shows some of the boards that use this sensor, listing the number of interfaces, the number of sensors, the input voltage, and the size. The board name links to board-specific sections that include wiring and purchase information.

Manufacture
Board
Interface
Flow
Range Finder
Gyro
Voltage (V)
Size (mm)
Max Height (m)

Bitcraze

SPI

Y

Y

-

3 - 5

21x20

1

Tindie

SPI

Y

-

-

3 - 5

AxB

-

Hex

CAN

Y

Y

Y

3 - 5

AxB

4

Holybro

UART

Y

-

-

3 - 5

AxB

-

Thone

UART

Y

-

-

3 - 5

AxB

-

Alientek

SPI

Y

-

-

3.3 - 4.2

27.5x16.5

1

External Rangefinders

An external rangefinder/distance sensor is required for the sensors that don't have a rangefinder (e.g. Tindie or Thone) and recommended for the other boards (as their range is quite limited).

The range needed is dependent on the application:

  • Indoor flight: ≈4 metres

  • Outdoor flight: ≥10 metres (e.g. to support the position control in environments where GPS might have issues)

Mounting/Orientation

PMW3901 modules have a small notch indicating the direction of the back of the board. The diagram shows the relative board and vehicle orientations that correspond to SENS_FLOW_ROT=0 (note the notch at the back).

The diagram above shows the Bitcraze board. You can use the notch to find the orientation of the other boards in the same way:

PX4 Configuration

The PX4 configuration that is common to all PMW3901-based boards:

In addition for:

Individual flow sensors are further setup/configured as described in the sections below.

Bitcraze Flow Breakout

SPI Wiring

The pinout mapping for the Pixhawk SPI port to Bitcraze Flow Board is shown below (the port mapping is the same for all Pixhawk FMU versions).

Pixhawk SPI Port (from left to right)
Bitcraze flow board

1 (VCC)

VCC

2 (SCK)

CLK

3 (MISO)

MISO

4 (MOSI)

MOSI

5 (CS1)

Do not connect

6 (CS2)

CS

7 (GND)

GND

To connect the bitcraze flow board to the Pixhawk, you will need to solder the wires of the Pixhawk SPI cable to the flow board. An SPI cable has 7 wires, from which you need to connect 6 to the flow board.

The following diagram shows how to wire the sensor to a Pixhawk 4.

I2C Wiring

The I2C wiring is the same for any other distance sensor. Simply connect the SLA, SLC, GND, and VCC to the corresponding (same) pins on the Pixhawk and the sensor.

Tindie PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor

AlienTek ATK-PMW3901

Hex HereFlow PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor

An onboard microcontroller samples the three sensors and publishes two DroneCAN messages containing all the information needed for the flow and distance sensor calculations.

DroneCAN Wiring/Setup

The diagram below shows how to connect the sensor to the Pixhawk 4 CAN bus.

  • UAVCAN_ENABLE=2: DroneCAN sensors but no motor controllers.

  • UAVCAN_ENABLE=3: DroneCAN sensors and motor controllers.

Holybro PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor

It comes with a 3D printed case and has a pre-soldered TX, Voltage, and GND 4 pin connector that can be plugged into the telemetry port of your flight controller, as shown below (for the Pixhawk 6C).

Thone ThoneFlow-3901U

Any supported by PX4 may be used. The sensor can be mounted anywhere but must point down, and should be connected/configured as usual.

:::tip The PX4 team mainly tested using the on larger vehicles and the on smaller vehicles. :::

Flow modules are typically mounted near the centre of the vehicle. If mounted off-centre you will need to set offsets: .

The flow modules may be mounted with any yaw orientation relative to the vehicle body frame, but you must set the value used in .

The "zero" rotation is when the sensor board and X-axes are aligned (i.e. the "front" of the vehicle and the board are in the same direction), with rotations increasing in a clockwise direction.

Tindie

Hex Hereflow

Thone

Alientek (also has an arrow indicating the front!)

explains how to fuse optical flow data in the EKF2 estimator and set position offsets for the mounting position of the flow sensor.

sets the orientation of the flow sensor relative to vehicle heading.

SPI-connected sensors you must set to 1 in order to enable the sensor driver.

UART-connected sensors (e.g. ThoneFlow-3901UY) you must by setting the parameter to the value of the connected UART port (for example, if you connected this sensor to TELEM 2, you need to set SENS_TFLOW_CFG to 102).

DroneCAN sensors you must set UAVCAN_ENABLE appropriately. For more information see (and the ).

The directly exposes the from the PMW3901 module.

The board also incorporates a distance sensor . This distance sensor is the VL53L0x ToF sensor from STMicroelectronics. The sensor range is minimal (2 metres) and will be reduced when flying in the sunlight. We therefore highly recommend that you use an .

and instructions are provided above.

The PMW3901, if connected to the SPI port on a Pixhawk 4, will automatically detect the Bitcraze flow module. This device's driver was explicitly written to be plugged into the SPI port using the chip select 1. No parameters will have to be configured other than the .

The Tindie exposes the SPI interface from the PMW3901 module exactly as on the Bitcraze module (see ).

The sensor doesn't have a distance sensor onboard, so you will need to use an .

and instructions are provided above.

The AlienTek exposes the SPI interface from the PMW3901 module in the same way as the Bitcraze module (see ).

The board also incorporates a distance sensor (we recommend that you use an ). You can wire the internal sensor to the Pixhawk I2C port A screenshot showing the I2C pins (SLA, SLC, GND, and VCC) is provided below.

and instructions are provided above.

The Hex is a tiny board containing the PMW3901 flow module, VL53L1X distance sensor, and an IMU (used to synchronize the flow data with the gyro data).

The board can be connected to any CAN port on any Pixhawk board (see ).

As for the other optical flow boards, we recommend that you use an .

and instructions are provided above.

In addition to any other configuration, you will need to set the parameter to either 2 or 3, depending on your system:

For general information about DroneCAN wiring and configuration see: .

The exposes a PMW3901 optical flow module via a UART interface.

The board doesn't include a distance sensor onboard, so you will need to use an .

The Thone exposes a PMW3901 optical flow module via a UART interface.

The board doesn't include a distance sensor onboard, so you will need to use an .

and instructions are provided above.

In addition, you must also set the parameter to the value of the UART port you connected (e.g. if the sensor is connected to TELEM 2 then set SENS_TFLOW_CFG=102. For more information see .

rangefinder/distance sensor
Lidar Lite V3
Lanbao CM8JL65
HereFlow PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
DroneCAN Peripherals
Holybro PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
ThoneFlow-3901U
DroneCAN Peripherals
HereFlow PMW3901 docs below
Bitcraze Flow breakout
SPI interface
wired to the Pixhawk I2C port
external distance sensor
PX4 configuration
mounting/orientation
orientation and position of the sensor
PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
SPI Wiring
external distance sensor
PX4 configuration
mounting/orientation
ATK-PMW3901
SPI Wiring
external distance sensor
in the same way as any other I2C peripheral.
PX4 configuration
mounting/orientation
DroneCAN wiring
external distance sensor
PX4 configuration
mounting/orientation
external distance sensor
external distance sensor
PX4 configuration
mounting/orientation
Flow breakout
PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
HereFlow PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
Holybro PMW3901 Optical Flow Sensor
ThoneFlow-3901U
ATK-PMW3901
optical flow
configure the associated serial port
Serial Port Configuration
Optical Flow > EKF2
Optical Flow > EKF2
vehicle
Bitcraze Flow Deck
PMW3901 PH4 Rotation
Bitcraze Flow Deck
Bitcraze PH4 Pinout
Tindie PH4 Pinout
Alientek Pixhawk4 Connections
Alientek Pinout
Hex PH4 Pinout
HB-pmw3901-3
PMW3901 Thoneflow Hero
PMW3901 Tindie Notch
PMW3901 Hereflow Notch
PMW3901 Thoneflow Notch
PMW3901 Alientek Notch
SENS_FLOW_ROT
SENS_FLOW_ROT
SENS_EN_PMW3901
SENS_TFLOW_CFG
UAVCAN_ENABLE
SENS_TFLOW_CFG