ROS World 2020: Dronecode Parallel Session

The Dronecode Foundation presents the Open Source Drones Parallel Track at ROS World 2020. Our track offers the ROS developer community a deep dive into the industry-validated PX4 Autopilot ecosystem. Developers will learn about the PX4 Autopilot and the ecosystem of projects hosted under The Dronecode Foundation. PX4 has a modern modular-based architecture with an internal publish, subscribe messaging API for inter-thread, inter-process communication called uORB. Additionally, PX4 has a complete hardware reference design called Pixhawk, the series of open hardware flight controllers first released in 2011. PX4 is widely used in the enterprise, commercial, and government drone programs, and it supports multiple vehicle types, such as flying (VTOL, Fixed Wing, Multicopters), rovers, and underwater vehicles. There are two ways for ROS developers to interface with PX4: 1) using the MAVLink based MAVROS, 2) or through the Fast-RTPS bridge to gain access to real-time communications between ROS 2 and PX4 uORB internals. In this track, you will learn about both interfaces and which to choose for your next project. The track will be focused on the PX4 Autopilot Ecosystem, with a strong focus on offering the ROS community and industry-validated option to build and control mission-critical unmanned vehicles. All the talks will be hosted by project maintainers, top contributors, and Dronecode Foundation staff.

• Introduction to the PX4 community by the Dronecode Foundation

• Getting started with PX4 & MAVROS

• Simulated workflows for aerial robotics with PX4

• Vision-based navigation with PX4 and ROS

• Getting started with ROS 2 and PX4

• The roadmap to micro-ROS, closing the bridge between ROS 2 and PX4