Autonomous Drones with PX4: Building Flight Controllers and Mission Logic

By Kalen Virell

Design Smarter Drones with Open-Source Flight Control

If you want to build drones that fly themselves-handling takeoff, navigation, obstacle avoidance, and mission execution without constant human input-this is your starting point.

Autonomous Drones with PX4 is a hands-on guide to building intelligent flight control systems using PX4, the popular open-source autopilot platform trusted by hobbyists, researchers, and industry developers alike. Whether you're new to drones or moving beyond manual control, this book walks you through configuring PX4 from scratch, writing custom mission logic, and integrating sensors, GPS, and companion computers for full autonomy.

You'll learn how drones make decisions, plan paths, avoid obstacles, and coordinate with ground stations. No theory overload-just practical steps, real-world examples, and clear code to get your projects flying.

Inside, you'll discover:

How to install, configure, and customize PX4 for your drone hardware

Writing mission logic: waypoints, triggers, failsafes, and autonomous tasks

Integrating sensors: LiDAR, GPS, IMUs, cameras

Building companion apps with MAVLink

Safety, redundancy, and regulatory considerations

Real-world use cases: delivery, inspection, search-and-rescue

If you're serious about autonomous flight systems, this is the guide that shows you what's possible-and how to build it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FHF6YQQB
• ISBN13: 9798292165897
• Release Date: July 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"