One of our top engineers, Holden Ramsey, who co-leads the QGroundControl (QGC)  Maintainers sub-group, has merged a sweeping refactor of the joystick subsystem into QGC's master branch. The update creates a unified joystick stack for QGC  and brings QGC's controller support into the modern era, with unified support for the latest gamepad features and a much cleaner codebase under the hood. A Unified Joystick Stack Previously, QGC used SDL2 for joystick support on desktop platforms, but...

Introduction This guide walks you through the complete process of setting up PX4 autopilot firmware on a fixed-wing aircraft, from initial assembly to flight-ready configuration. We’ll be using the FliteTest Spear paired with a Holybro Pixhawk 6C flight controller. You can follow along with the video and/or read the written version below: The FliteTest Spear is an excellent platform for this build. It’s a flying wing design with a large center payload bay, making it ideal for carrying...

Ascend Engineering has conducted the official testing of the dual GPS configuration for heading determination included in PX4 1.16. This important validation of Jacob Dahl's bugfix ensured this feature update made it into the latest release of PX4. The implementation uses two GPS units connected via CAN bus through a CAN splitter into the flight controller. The system designates one receiver as the rover (Instance 0) and the other as the moving base (Instance 1). Heading data flows from the...