Operatinal Setup
How to get a new hardware operational
Flash Latest Firmware
In case that the drone is already in our catalog, make sure to flash the latest version of the firmware, you can follow the page How to Flash Firmware for more information.
If the plan is to integrate the drone into the catalog, the first step is to create the minimal functional set of file required to generate the firmware, please follow Add a new firmware to integrade the drone into our pipeline.
Why building the firmware from source ?
- Granular control on the firmware generation
- enable drivers (mainly the CRSF driver for radio)
- custom version tracking
- custom airframe config; this allow for easy setup.
Flight Controller Placement
Follow: "as close as possible to the centre-of-gravity (CoG), top-side up, and oriented so that the heading mark arrow points towards the front of the vehicle"
- Set the FMU position, see
EKF2_IMU_POS_X - Set the FMU orientation, see
SENS_BOARD_ROTor using QGC Flight Controller/Sensor Orientation (discourage)
Motors Setup
- Motor distribution and placement based on the drone airframe, see PX4 Airframe Reference.
- Set the right number of motors
CA_ROTOR_COUNT - Set motor geometry placement (w.r.t center of mass), see parameters:
- Set flight controller output assignment, see
PWM_MAIN_FUNCn
- Set the right number of motors
- ESCs Calibration values (only for PWM ESCs)
- Motor
PWM_MAIN_MINn. andPWM_MAIN_MAXn, see offical docs from step 7 onwards https://docs.px4.io/main/en/advanced_config/esc_calibration.html
- Motor
Checks:
- Motor numbering and placement
- Motor sping rotation acording to the airframe
Sensors Calibration
Magnetometer:
Battery Setup
Sensors Setup
Radio and Flight Modes
See the dedicate page Radio Setup.