Pixhawk

Pixhawk is a family of open-source autopilot hardware platforms used in unmanned aerial vehicles and other autonomous systems. It is designed to run open-source flight control software such as PX4 Autopilot and ArduPilot, enabling autonomous navigation, stabilization, and mission planning.

The boards typically feature a 32-bit ARM processor (often ARM Cortex-M4/M7), multiple gyroscopes and accelerometers, a magnetometer, barometer, GPS, and a suite of input/output ports (PWM/servo outputs, serial, I2C, SPI). They are designed to be compact, power-efficient, and capable of handling complex flight control algorithms, sensor fusion, and real-time state estimation. They support integration with external sensors, GPS/GLONASS, RTK, lidar, and optical flow.

The Pixhawk family has multiple generations and is produced by several manufacturers. The original Pixhawk flight controller emerged from the PX4 open-hardware project in the early 2010s as a successor to earlier autopilot boards. Since then, variants such as Pixhawk 1 and later Pixhawk 2.x have proliferated, with variations in form factor, power management, and connector layouts. The boards are widely used by hobbyists, researchers, and industry pilots, and are supported by a large ecosystem of peripherals and add-on modules.

Software and protocols: Pixhawk boards run PX4 Autopilot or ArduPilot firmware, communicating with ground control stations via MAVLink. They support autonomous missions, stabilization, return-to-launch, loitering, and sensor-driven navigation, with SITL simulation options.

The Pixhawk project emphasizes open-source collaboration, transparent hardware design, and a broad user community that contributes documentation, firmware, and compatible peripherals.