v1.6.3 Stable Release

PX4 v1.6.3 requires a recent version of QGroundControl for the best user experience, currently available as “daily build” here.

• Enables correct calibration of 4th magnetometer
• Fixes VTOL back transition on RTL

v1.6.2 Stable Release

PX4 v1.6.2 requires a recent version of QGroundControl for the best user experience, currently available as “daily build” here.

New Hardware Support

• Crazyflie v2
• FMUv4 PRO (Prototype donation and manufacturing: Drotek)
• FMUv5 (Prototype donation and manufacturing: Team Blacksheep)

New Features

• New .ulg uLog logging format which directly logs uORB topics and offers more accurate time stamping. Supported in FlightPlot. @bkueng
• New web-graphing engine for .ulg: http://review.px4.io @bkueng
• Easier to use camera triggering @mhkabir
• Basic support for real-time camera triggering feedback @mhkabir
• Support for survey flights (multicopter and fixed wing) with intuitive UI
• Temperature calibration and compensation (gyro, accel, mag, baro)
• Support for MAVLink and PWM controlled gimbals @bkueng
• Support for generic helicopters and Blade 130 mixer @bartslinger
• Fixedwing acro and rattitude flight modes

Major Upgrades

• EKF2 Robustness @priseborough @Tumbili
• Tremendously better user experience on Snapdragon Flight @ChristophTobler
• Better user experience on Aero @lucasdemarchi
• Hardening against marginal GPS reception @priseborough
• Hardening against mag observability issues @priseborough
• NuttX Update to a recent release @davids5
• STM32F7 support @davids5
• Change default to use the new ULog logging format supporting http://review.px4.io zoomable graphing
• Significant reduction in RAM usage on STM32 @bkueng

Bugfixes and Improvements

• Critical bugfixes in magnetometer calibration routine preventing a race condition @mhkabir
• Improvements for FMUv3 / Pixhawk 2.1 HW support @mhkabir
• Improvements for UAVCAN motor control and parameter transfer @eyeam3
• Cleanup of PWM output driver, easier user-configuration of OneShot
• More reliable reboot of Pixracer boards
• Log tasks low on stack @AndreasAntener
• Prevent overshooting of landing waypoints on VTOLS by calculating the acceptance radius based on ground speed @sanderux
• Prevent takeoff in loiter mode when vehicle is on the ground and wait on transition to mission mode @julianoes
• Improved robustness and reliability of land detector
• Fix offboard attitude setpoint overwrite from RC channels @aivian
• Add ground truth tests to SITL Gazebo CI @jgoppert
• Disable the safety switch by default on Pixracer @LorenzMeier
• Use ellipsoid instead of sphere fitting in magnetometer calibration @bugobliterator
• Introduction of the event module @bkueng
• Temperature calibration for IMU and barometric sensors @bugobliterator @priseborough
• Don’t allow arming in low battery condition @LorenzMeier
• Enable takeoff and landing with just local position (e.g. flow) @ChristophTobler
• Add fixed-wing acro mode @AndreasAntener
• Trigger quadchute on maximum roll and pitch angles to prevent stalling or actuation problems like reversed ailerons/elevons @sanderux
• Add fast EKF2 replay for new ulog format @bkueng
• UAVCAN performance audit @pavel-kirienko
• Add preflight, postflight perf counters and process usage to ULog @bkueng
• Improve VTOL standard transition improvements
• Fix PX4 build on Windows platforms @MaEtUgR
• Improve multicopter takeoff and landing in altitude controlled flight modes
• Support for multiple UAVs in SITL simulation @mzahana
• Fixedwing offboard control mode improvements
• Fixedwing throttle scaling with battery voltage @sander
• VTOL land improved back transition waypoint accuracy
• TECS height rate feed forward fixed
• Fixedwing loiter to altitude landing improved predictibility @natorgator
• Fixedwing limits fix : The FW_PSP_OFF parameter no longer breaches the pitch min/max limits. @sanderux
• Improved the mixer clipping performance on yaw saturation @bresch
• BMI055 driver fixes for device IDs (from 1.6.0)
• Fixes for mag rotation (from 1.6.0 and 1.6.1) @mhkabir

R&D

• Iridium SBD @dagar
• ICM20602 and ICM20689 @davids5
• BMI055 and BMM150 @scheiermanns

v1.6.0 Release Candidate 4

Improvements on mag calibration on FMUv4 hardware

v1.6.0 Release Candidate 3

• Improvements on EKF2 stability
• General improvements of stability and usability

v1.6.0 Release RC2

Second release candidate for v1.6.0. Release notes TBC

1.6.0 Release RC1

This is a release candidate for the current beta branch, nominally tagged as 1.6.0. We will likely conclude to skip 1.6-1.9 in favour of releasing a 2.0.0 in a couple weeks, so consider this release candidate a reasonably well tested snapshot (hence the RC naming) of the current development and not a preview for the next stable release.

v1.5.5 Stable Release

Minor bugfixes and improvements over v1.5.4.

Release v.1.5.4

Geofence fix and re-labeled from v1.5.3 to v1.5.4 to fix version indication in QGC.

Release v1.5.2

Improves the calibration handling on Pixhawk 2.1 boards.

Release v1.5.1

This release changes the estimator to EKF2 for all vehicles as it is the most tested in typical outdoor scenarios. Indoor scenarios and general R&D applications continue to benefit greatly from the LPE estimator.

To switch back to the previous default, set SYS_MC_EST_GROUP to 1. To use EKF2, set SYS_MC_EST_GROUP to 2.

Most notable changes / improvements:

• EKF2 default estimator
• STM32F7 support added
• Crazyflie support added
• Parrot Bebop 2 support added
• Log streaming via Wifi to the ground and straight to the cloud
• New log analysis tool with real-time zoomable plots (logs.px4.io)
• Reduction of memory footprint
• Performance improvements in VTOL flight control
• Pre-flight check improvements on EKF2
• Side-slip support in EKF2

Hardware support

• Intel Aero Flight Control
• Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight
• Parrot Bebop 2
• Raspberry Pi / Emlid Navio 2+
• CrazyFlie
• Pixhawk 1 (FMUv2 architecture)
• Pixhawk (2) Mini (FMUv3 architecture)
• Pixhawk 2 (FMUv3 architecture)
• Pixracer (FMUv4 architecture)
• Dronesmith Lucy (FMUv4 architecture)
• MindPX (FMUv4 architecture)
• Pixhawk 3 Pro (FMUv4-PRO architecture)
• Upcoming Pixracer 4 & Pixhawk 4 (FMUv5 architecture, STM32F7)