Now that we are familiar with QGroundControl and know how to connect to our drone, let's go ahead and check sensor calibrations and make some configuration changes to the PX4 autopilot.

Configuring PX4

To recap configuring the PX4 autopilot, we:

• checked to make sure all our sensors were calibrated and ran any calibrations required
• checked to make sure our radio was properly calibrated and determined which switches control which channels
• updated the battery settings to match the battery we are using
• updated the flight control mode options to ensure we have the following options available:
  • Manual - most basic level of control, the drone will not maintain altitude or position automatically, will just stay level when no input is provided
  • Altitude - maintains current altitude
  • Position Control - uses GPS information to hold the drone in position when the pilot gives no inputs
  • Offboard - this is the mode in which we give control of the drone to our backyard flyer script
• slowed down the flight speed when in Offboard mode by changing the following parameters:
  • MPC_XY_CRUISE - changed to 4 m/s
  • MPC_XY_VEL_MAX - changed to 5 m/s

Reminders for Fresh Install of PX4

If we've just updated your Intel Aero, or have reflashed a new version of PX4 onto our autopilot, we will need to make sure to complete the initial setup of your autopilot:

• ensure sensors have all been calibrated
• ensure remote control has been calibrated
• ensure the values in the battery configuration match the battery you will be using

For Generic PX4 Autopilot

If we are working with a generic PX4 autopilot, PX4 is not by default set up to allow offboard control, so we will need to make sure to enable that. We can find the detailed instructions here, but in short, we will need to set the SYS_COMPANION parameter to the value 357600. This value tells the PX4 that offboard control will be coming over the normal telemetry link at a baud rate of 57600. For details on the options available for the parameter, we can look at PX4's documentation on the parameters.

Disclaimer

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