PX4 Autopilot, the open-source flight control system for uncrewed vehicles, has released its latest stable version, v1.15. This update introduces significant improvements for PX4 developers, including tighter integration with ROS 2 and uXRCE-DDS middleware, enhanced hardware support, and navigation improvements. With these enhancements, PX4 v1.15 continues to provide a unified codebase for aerial robotics platforms, including drones, fixed-wing, eVTOLs, and beyond, offering advanced control algorithms and sophisticated sensor fusion capabilities. Let’s dive into the key highlights of this release.
New Throw Mode: Launch Your Multicopter with Ease
One of the most exciting additions in v1.15 is the experimental Throw Mode. This feature allows users to start their multicopter by simply throwing it into the air. This innovative launch method eliminates the need for manual takeoff procedures, potentially making drone deployment faster and more convenient in various scenarios. While still in its experimental phase, Throw Mode showcases our community’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of drone technology.
uXRCE-DDS Interface Enhancements
The uXRCE-DDS interface has received important updates in this release. Notably, the DDS Topics YAML now allows the use of ‘subscription_multi’ to specify that indicated ROS 2 topics are sent to a separate uORB topic instance reserved for ROS 2. This change enables PX4 to differentiate between updates from ROS and those from PX4 uORB publishers, giving ROS 2 users more control over how their messages interact with existing uORB topics.
Gazebo Simulation Improvements
This release significantly enhances the Gazebo simulation capabilities. New features include support for Advanced Plane simulation and the separation of Gazebo and PX4 SITL. These improvements provide developers with more realistic and flexible testing environments, facilitating more accurate simulation of complex flight scenarios and streamlining the development process for new flight control algorithms and features.
Enhanced ROS 2 Integration
PX4 v1.15 introduces an experimental PX4 ROS 2 Interface Library. This C++ library significantly simplifies the process of controlling PX4 from ROS 2 environments. It provides high-level interfaces for vehicle control and sensor data access, abstracting away much of the complexity involved in PX4-ROS 2 communication. This development is a major step towards seamlessly supporting complex robotic system architectures with PX4-powered drones.
Fixed-wing and VTOL Enhancements
PX4 v1.15 brings several improvements for fixed-wing and VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) aircraft. Fixed-wing updates include simplified airspeed sensor configuration and high wind hardening. For VTOL aircraft, the release introduces exposed back-transition tilting time as a parameter and adds automatic pitch ramps for tailsitters in Stabilized mode. These enhancements contribute to more stable and efficient operations, particularly in critical transition phases.
New Position Slow Mode for Precise Control
The introduction of Position Slow Mode offers users a more controlled version of the standard Position mode. This new flight mode features user-configurable velocity limits, making it ideal for situations requiring precise, slower movements. Whether you’re navigating indoors, operating in close quarters, or carrying delicate payloads, Position Slow Mode provides an additional layer of safety and control.
Expanded Hardware Support
The v1.15 release expands hardware support to include new flight controllers and sensors. This broader hardware compatibility gives developers and users more options when building or upgrading their drone systems, potentially leading to more specialized and cost-effective solutions for various applications.
Enhanced Optical Flow Support
PX4 v1.15 brings significant improvements to optical flow sensor integration. These enhancements boost the accuracy and reliability of position estimation, especially in GPS-denied environments. Drone operators can now expect better performance in challenging lighting conditions and increased compatibility with various optical flow sensors.
Improved Mission Resume Functionality
PX4 v1.15 enhances the mission resume feature with better handling of gimbal and camera commands when resuming interrupted missions. This improvement ensures smoother operation of payload systems during mission execution, potentially improving the quality of data collection and reducing the need for mission re-runs due to incomplete camera or gimbal operations.
Geofence Enhancements
The geofencing system in PX4 has received notable improvements in this release. Users can expect more robust boundary enforcement, improved handling of complex geofence shapes, and better integration with mission planning. These enhancements increase safety and regulatory compliance, especially in areas with strict airspace restrictions.
Experimental Zenoh pico Support
PX4 v1.15 introduces experimental support for Zenoh pico, a lightweight communication protocol. This integration opens up new possibilities for efficient data exchange between PX4-powered drones, and ground stations or other networked devices. While still in its early stages, this feature could potentially reduce latency, improve bandwidth utilization, and enhance overall communication reliability in various drone applications.
Improved State Estimation
Major upgrades have been made to the estimation system, centered around the new Error-State Kalman Filter. This change brings improved convergence, numerical stability, and computational efficiency. Key updates include the Joseph stabilized covariance update algorithm, manual position updates via MAVLink, and Auxiliary Global Position fusion. The release also features enhanced magnetometer handling, upgraded optical flow functionality and an updated Yaw Emergency Estimator. These enhancements result in more accurate and reliable state estimation across various flight conditions.
Contributors and Total Commits
The v1.15 release was made possible by 48 contributors who made 1,397 commits to the PX4-Autopilot project. A group of community members also helped with flight testing, contributed to documentation, and prepared the release announcement. We want to thank each and every contributor, committers, and otherwise, for their fantastic effort, dedication, and willingness to support this open source movement.
The Complete Release Notes
You can read the full release notes on the PX4 documentation portal here.
How To Get The Release
You can get the latest releases (and older ones) directly from GitHub. You can also opt to build from source or try the pre-built binaries that can be found on the GitHub releases for the PX4 Autopilot repository. You can also load PX4 v1.15 directly into your supported flight controller of choice using QGroundControl through the same procedures as before.
About
The PX4-Autopilot is an open-source flight control project for drones and other uncrewed vehicles. It provides the infrastructure needed for drone developers to develop complex and robust safety-critical systems. PX4 is hosted by Dronecode, a non-profit organization part of the Linux Foundation.
You can join our community by becoming a Dronecode Foundation member and contributing to our projects.