7/2/2020 Open Source Drone Software Projects | Best Choices (2019)

Home Drone Software Open Source Drone Software Projects Type your search

Open Source Drone Software Projects

Login with your Social Account
March 28, 2019 Written by caleberg Leave a Comment

Login with Facebook

Login with Google

Login

Username

Password

Whether you’re building an FPV quad, a xed wing drone or an octocopter, every drone
enthusiast will face the choice of which ight control software to use. Chances are, if
Lost Password?
you’re building a drone you’ll also want to use some sort of open source drone software
Remember Me
to run your drone’s ight control board.

Oh, and here is a helpful resource to aid you in building your own drone. Login →

In this post, we will be looking at some of the best open source uav projects out there.
Register
After reading this, you will understand which drone rmware projects are viable for the Lost Password
drone you are wanting to create.

As Michael Bolton says in his famous Lonely Island feature, let’s get to it! (Have I Archives
successfully totally confused Google regarding what the heck this page is about??)

December 2019
March 2019
November 2018

Categories

DIY Drone
Drone Software
News
Tutorials

Recent Posts

Best Open Source Drone Projects Create an Eye Blink Password Safe

ArduPilot Open Source Drone Software Projects

Full disclosure: This is my favorite project
Make Your Own Arduino Drone
 

https://dojofordrones.com/open-source-drone/#:~:text=PX4 came out of the,operates under the BSD license.&text=PX4 is also supported on a large amount of flight control boards. 1/5
7/2/2020 Open Source Drone Software Projects | Best Choices (2019)

Ardupilot was one of the early pioneers of open source drone software. The project Selecting a Drone Flight Controller
began on Arduino hardware (hence the “Ardu” part), and has grown into a powerhouse
in the drone industry. Raspberry Pi Drone | A Complete Drone Kit

A random historical note, APM is also used to refer to ArduPilot software.

The ArduPilot community is really supportive, and their forum is a great tool for getting
involved.

ArduPilot can work on many different types of vehicles, including: multirotors, xed wing
planes, land rovers and even submarines. Ardupilot strives to make these vehicles
purely autonomous.

There is also a diverse collection of ight controller boards that ArduPilot is compatible
with. The ArduPilot ight stack is pretty advanced, as it uses the popular
MissionPlanner as the ground control station and MAVLink as the middleware.

The open source license that ArduPilot operates by is GPL, which essentially means
that any changes that are made to the ArduPilot codebase needs to be added back to
the parent project.

There is a way around this GPL requirement, as a company could create their IP outside
of ArduPilot. Then they could keep their innovation private, while using ArduPilot for the
basic function of drone control.

GPL could make ArduPilot less attractive for businesses wanting to protect their IP
from competitors. However, this hasn’t stopped drone giants like Matternet from using
the ArduPilot ight stack.

While you can use ArduPilot for some FPV quad applications, typically it is used by
those wanting a drone that can y autonomously.

I have written an in-depth overview of the ArduPilot ight stack for those interested.

PROS:

Great support
Large amount of supported ight controllers. Ardupilot supported hardware boards
Very advanced control algorithms
Works on many vehicle types
GPL License means more community driven innovation to bene t all users

CONS:

GPL license (Only a con to consider for businesses)

Not a great choice for FPV drone racing

PX4
PX4 is a part of the Dronecode project, a
non-pro t organization administered by
the Linux Foundation. Dronecode aims to
supply the emerging drone industry with
a platform of open source software.

You wouldn’t want write a whole

operating system to create a solitaire app
on Linux. Dronecode supplies you with
the ‘operating system’ framework, freeing
its users for developing innovation on top
of the platform.
 

https://dojofordrones.com/open-source-drone/#:~:text=PX4 came out of the,operates under the BSD license.&text=PX4 is also supported on a large amount of flight control boards. 2/5
7/2/2020 Open Source Drone Software Projects | Best Choices (2019)

An interesting anecdote is that ArduPilot used to be the featured ight control software
project in Dronecode, which has contributed to an ArduPilot vs PX4 semi-rivalry.

One of the founders of ArduPilot remarked on the ight control transplant by saying the
“Platinum members (of the Dronecode project) staged what can only be called a coup
(in supplanting ArduPilot with PX4)”

PX4 came out of the Pixhawk project, which is an open source hardware project, as
they needed some open source drone software to run their boards.

One of the key distinctions between PX4 and ArduPilot is that it operates under the BSD
license. This essentially means that if you add a new feature to the PX4 project in a
private fork, you don’t have to push your changes back to the parent PX4 project.

This feature makes PX4 more attractive to businesses looking to protect their
intellectual property. Due to this reason, and their inclusion in the Dronecode project,
PX4 is getting much more funding for development work than ArduPilot.

PX4 is also supported on a large amount of ight control boards. It also isn’t the best
choice for FPV quad enthusiasts, as it is more focused on autonomous drones.

All things considered, PX4 and ArduPilot are still pretty similar in terms of functionality.

PROS:

Great support
Industry backed project
Supported on many ight controller boards. PX4 supported hardware boards 
Usable on many different vehicle types
BSD License allows businesses to protect their IP

CONS:

BSD License. The project will lose out on innovation getting pushed back to the main
branch
Not a good choice for FPV racers

BetaFlight
Now we are getting into the FPV projects and away from the autonomous drone
projects.

The BetaFlight ight controller software is focused on the performance of manual ight,
making it a great choice for FPV quad fanatics. It is arguably the most popular open
source software project for FPV drones today.

BefaFlight is primarily used with quadcopters, but can be used on xed wing aircraft as
well. It is a highly supported ight control software project on the popular FPV autopilot
boards. Basically, if the board is using at least an STM32F3 processor, then BetaFlight
will probably be supported.

BetaFlight is completely open source and has a vast amount of community support
behind the project. There are tons of resources available online for the inevitable
problems you may run into.

BetaFlight also supports the big RC products like FrSky, FlySky and Graupner.

PROS:

Supported on any autopilot hardware board using at least a STM32F3

processor. BetaFlight supported hardware boards  
Great community support

https://dojofordrones.com/open-source-drone/#:~:text=PX4 came out of the,operates under the BSD license.&text=PX4 is also supported on a large amount of flight control boards. 3/5
7/2/2020 Open Source Drone Software Projects | Best Choices (2019)

Dedicated to manual ight performance and safety

CONS:

Not applicable for autonomous drones (Not really a con, just a reminder)

CleanFlight
The CleanFlight software project is also extremely popular for FPV quad applications.

It has its roots in the now deprecated MultiWii code, but has upgraded the rmware
from an 8-bit to a 32-bit project.

CleanFlight operates under the GPL license, so any changes must be pushed back to
the main branch.

Much like BetaFlight, CleanFlight is also supported on a wide variety of autopilot boards,
as it is available on 8 different boards.

Their documentation is excellent and online resources vast, which will aid any
troubleshooting you may have.

Ultimately, CleanFlight and BetaFlight are very similar, and choosing between the two
may just be a matter of preference. Much like Dr. Pepper vs Mr. Pibb.

PROS:

Supported on any autopilot hardware board using at least a STM32F3 processor.

CleanFlight supported hardware boards
Great community support
Dedicated to manual ight performance and safety

CONS:

Not applicable for autonomous drones (Not really a con, just a reminder)

Honorable FPV Software Mention

LibrePilot
The pieces of the OpenPilot project turned into
the LibrePilot project. While not as popular
as CleanFlight and BetaFlight, it is a viable
option for FPV quadcopters as well.

LibrePilot supported boards

Drone Flight Controllers

So now you’ve learned about the major open source drone projects. A next step might
be determining which ight control board you will want to use. If so, checkout my list of
the top autopilot boards on the market.

Drone Software Open Source Software

Create an Eye Blink Password Safe Make Your Own Arduino Drone

No Comments Yet  

https://dojofordrones.com/open-source-drone/#:~:text=PX4 came out of the,operates under the BSD license.&text=PX4 is also supported on a large amount of flight control boards. 4/5
7/2/2020 Open Source Drone Software Projects | Best Choices (2019)

Leave a reply
Default Comments (0) Facebook Comments

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Login with your Social ID

Login with Facebook

Login with Google

evolve theme by Theme4Press - Powered by WordPress

Icons made by Smashicons and licensed by CC 3.0

https://dojofordrones.com/open-source-drone/#:~:text=PX4 came out of the,operates under the BSD license.&text=PX4 is also supported on a large amount of flight control boards. 5/5