Holybro pixhawk 4 User manual

The most advanced development kit for the PX4 autopilot

IN THE BOX
Pixhawk 4 autopilot
GPS module
with safety switch and LED
I2C splitter
6 to 6 pin cable (power) x 3
4 to 4 pin cable (CAN) x 2
6 to 4 pin cable (Data)
10 to 10 pin cable (PWM) x 2
GPS MODULE
Power board
1

MOUNT
Use the provided foam pads to mount Pixhawk 4 as close as possible to your vehicle’s
center of gravity. Make sure to orient the board with the arrow pointing forward.
8 to 8 pin cable (AUX)
PPM/SBUS out cable
XSR receiver cable
DSMX receiver cable
SBUS receiver cable
USB Cable
2

CONNECT
For more details on how to connect Power Management Board(PMB) with Pixhawk 4 and the
motors, refer to PX4 User Guide:
https://docs.px4.io/en/assembly/quick_start_pixhawk4.html
Connect the PMB to the POWER port using the 6-wire cable to direct power from your lithium
polymer (LiPo) battery to the autopilot.
(Optional) Connect a Telemetry Radio to the TELEM port to receive data in Ground Control
Station and communicate with the autopilot in flight.
Connect I/O PWM-IN port of the PMB to the I/O PWM OUT of Pixhawk 4 using the 10 wire
cable to send PWM signals to the motors.
Connect PPM, DSM or SBUS Radio Control receiver to provide the autopilot with RC inputin
manual and assisted flights modes.
Connect the GPS module to provide the autopilot with positioning data during flight.
A
UART
Connect the Power Management Board to the Power
port using the 6-wire cable to direct power from your
lithium polymer (LiPo) battery to the autopilot.
(Optional) Connect a Telemetry Radio to the TELEM port
to receive data in Ground Control Station and communi-
cate with the autopilot in flight.
Connect I/O PWM-IN port of the Power Management
Board to the I/O PWM OUT of Pixhawk4 using the 10 wire
cable to send PWM signals to the motors.
Connect the provided GPS module (with integrated
magnetometer, safety switch and buzzer) to provide the
autopilot with positioning data during flight.
Connect PPM, DSM or SBUS Radio Control receiver to
provide the autopilot with RC input in manual and
assisted flights modes.
3

SET UP
The PX4 firmware is the brains of your autopilot operation and Version 1.7 is already loaded
on your Pixhawk 4.
To configure your vehicle as well as do mission planning and flight monitoring, you can use
the free QGroundControl application (Windows, Mac, Linux), which you can download from
http://qgroundcontrol.com/
Once you have installed and successfully run QGroundControl, plug in Pixhawk 4 with the
supplied USB cable, it should be automatically recognized. Click on and follow the
on-screen instructions to finish the setup steps.
As part of a first time setup, you’ll need to configure some of the required hardware compo-
nents, such as:
● Frame type configuration
● Compass calibration
● Radio control calibration
● Accelerometer calibration
● RC transmitter mode setup
● ESC calibration
In addition to mandatory calibrations, you may also choose to configure optional hardware
including battery monitor, sonar, airspeed sensor, optical flow, OSD, camera gimbal, antenna
tracker etc.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Refer to pixhawk.org for detailed pin-outs of Pixhawk 4 connectors.
Visit PX4 user guide at px4.io for detailed instructions including tutorials on how to change
firmware and do advanced configurations with QGroundControl.
Join PX4 Slack (http://slack.px4.io/) to receive support from the community and the PX4
team.
4