Hybrid drones navigate water and air with custom PX4 firmware
Custom PX4 firmware for autonomous hybrid aerial-marine missions
Robotics
Summary
Mapping and studying water environments can be tricky, especially if you want a drone to move both in the air and on water. The authors created a software update for a popular drone flight system, PX4, that lets drones drive on water as well as fly. This update adds new control modes for moving on water and fits in with existing drone flight controls. They tested their system using simulated scenarios to show it works smoothly even with calm or wavy water.
What this means in practice
- •For drone operators: Enable operators to plan and control missions that combine flying and driving on water surfaces using a unified interface.
- •For environmental monitoring teams: Support environmental teams in aquatic mapping by using drones that automatically transition between air and water navigation seamlessly.
Authors
Andrea Capuozzo, Fabio Ruggiero, Vincenzo Lippiello
Abstract
Mapping and monitoring aquatic environments can benefit from hybrid aerial-amphibious drones able to combine flight and water-surface navigation within the same mission. This paper presents a PX4 firmware extension for such platforms, introducing manual and autonomous marine navigation modes integrated with the standard PX4 mission pipeline and QGroundControl interface. The proposed framework preserves existing flight functionalities and safety mechanisms while enabling unified planning and execution of hybrid aerial-marine missions with differentiated aerial and marine waypoints. Simulated case studies validate the implementation and demonstrate stable surface navigation under calm and wavy conditions.