Pixhawk 6C support (PX4 fmu-v6c)

I have been trying to make Pixhawk 6C work with any recent release of MATLAB (2022a-2023a pre-release), but no luck so far. I understand MATLAB only supports PX4 up to 1.12.3, but pixhawk 6C support was only added to PX4 in 1.13.1 release. I have access to Pixhawk 4 board as well, so I can use it for testing purposes. So I have the following questions:

1. Is there any way to compile a more recent version of the firmware and make it compatible with Simulink? (1.13.2 preferably)
2. I understand I need to write my own CMake files for the Matlab compiler, but no luck so far. What do I need to pay attention to when trying to write my own CMake? So far I tried to compile 1.13.2 for both Pixhawk 4 and 6C and nothing worked. For Pixhawk 4 I just used the exact same CMake from 1.10.2 version of PX4.

Also, I am aware of the previous posts, but I did not find them sufficient:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1809440-pixhawk-6x-5x-6c-support-by-simulink

Answer 1

[Ankur Bose]

We have verified and tested the features in R2022b with firmware version v1.12.3. Firmware version 1.13 is not officially supported and using 1.13 with R2022b will result in non-trivial difficult to solve errors.

Your second query is not clear.

"I understand I need to write my own CMake files for the Matlab compiler". Why are you trying to write your own CMake? How are using MATLAB compiler? What errors are you facing?

[Yehenii Kovryznenko]

Thank you for your quick repply @Ankur Bose! I completely missed it. My appologies for being vague.

I am trying to compile 1.13 with R2022b but there are no cmake files in "Firmware\boards\px4\fmu-v5\" folder (e.g. "default.cmake" and similar .cmake files exist in 1.12.3). All I am doing is re-running the setup app (in addon mannager) when I have made any changes. In this case, I am trying to use "default.cmake" file from 1.12.3 in 1.13.2, but the last step of the setup (when I hit a "build" button) leads to an error. It does not really print any error in matlab output window, it just quits.

Here the output that I get in the console:

================================================================================

Warning: Version of the Firmware provided is v1.13.2. Currently only v1.12.3 version of PX4 is supported. If the

version is less than v1.12.3, the firmware build may fail in further screens. If the version is greater than v1.12.3,

the functionalities may not work as expected. Specify a PX4 firmware directory with version v1.12.3.

SUBMODULEUPDATESTART

SUBMODULEUPDATEEND

-- PX4 version: v1.13.2

-- Found PythonInterp: /usr/bin/python3 (found suitable version "3.6.9", minimum required is "3")

-- PX4 config file: /cygdrive/d/PX4/firmware/v1.13.2/Firmware/boards/px4/fmu-v5/default.px4board

-- PLATFORM nuttx

-- TOOLCHAIN arm-none-eabi

-- ARCHITECTURE cortex-m7

-- ROMFSROOT px4fmu_common

-- IO px4_io-v2_default

-- SERIAL_GPS1 /dev/ttyS0

-- SERIAL_TEL1 /dev/ttyS1

-- SERIAL_TEL2 /dev/ttyS2

-- SERIAL_TEL4 /dev/ttyS3

-- UAVCAN_INTERFACES 2

-- UAVCAN_TIMER_OVERRIDE 6

-- PX4 config: px4_fmu-v5_default

-- PX4 platform: nuttx

-- cmake build type: MinSizeRel

-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 7.3.1

-- The C compiler identification is GNU 7.3.1

-- The ASM compiler identification is GNU

-- Found assembler: /cygdrive/d/PX4/toolchain/toolchain/gcc-arm/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc.exe

-- Check for working CXX compiler: /cygdrive/d/PX4/toolchain/toolchain/gcc-arm/bin/arm-none-eabi-g++.exe

-- Check for working CXX compiler: /cygdrive/d/PX4/toolchain/toolchain/gcc-arm/bin/arm-none-eabi-g++.exe -- works

-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info

-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - failed

-- Detecting CXX compile features

-- Detecting CXX compile features - failed

-- Check for working C compiler: /cygdrive/d/PX4/toolchain/toolchain/gcc-arm/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc.exe

-- Check for working C compiler: /cygdrive/d/PX4/toolchain/toolchain/gcc-arm/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc.exe -- works

-- Detecting C compiler ABI info

-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - failed

-- Detecting C compile features

-- Detecting C compile features - failed

-- Enabling double FP precision hardware instructions

-- drivers/px4io: ROMFS including px4_io-v2_default

-- Found PythonInterp: /usr/bin/python3 (found version "3.6.9")

-- Using C++11

-- Release build type: MinSizeRel

-- ROMFS: ROMFS/px4fmu_common

-- ROMFS: Adding platforms/nuttx/init/stm32f7/rc.board_arch_defaults -> /etc/init.d/rc.board_arch_defaults

-- ROMFS: Adding boards/px4/fmu-v5/init/rc.board_defaults -> /etc/init.d/rc.board_defaults

-- ROMFS: Adding boards/px4/fmu-v5/init/rc.board_sensors -> /etc/init.d/rc.board_sensors

-- ROMFS: Adding boards/px4/fmu-v5/init/rc.board_extras -> /etc/init.d/rc.board_extras

-- ROMFS: Adding boards/px4/fmu-v5/extras/px4_fmu-v5_bootloader.bin -> /etc/extras/px4_fmu-v5_bootloader.bin

-- ROMFS: Adding boards/px4/fmu-v5/extras/px4_io-v2_default.bin -> /etc/extras/px4_io-v2_default.bin

-- Configuring done

-- Generating done

-- Build files have been written to: /cygdrive/d/PX4/firmware/v1.13.2/Firmware/build/px4_fmu-v5_default

[0/1157] git submodule src/drivers/gps/devices

[8/1157] Generating px4 event header file

[9/1157] git submodule platforms/nuttx/NuttX/nuttx

[10/1157] Generating serial_params.c

[11/1157] git submodule src/drivers/uavcan/libuavcan

[12/1157] git submodule src/modules/mavlink/mavlink

[17/1157] Generating uORB topic headers

[18/1157] Generating Mavlink development: src/modules/mavlink/mavlink/message_definitions/v1.0/development.xml

FAILED: mavlink/development/development.h EDIT: I have this error even on the supported version and it compiles just fine

cd /cygdrive/d/PX4/firmware/v1.13.2/Firmware/build/px4_fmu-v5_default/src/modules/mavlink && /usr/bin/python3 /cygdrive/d/PX4/firmware/v1.13.2/Firmware/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink/pymavlink/tools/mavgen.py --lang C --wire-protocol 2.0 --output /cygdrive/d/PX4/firmware/v1.13.2/Firmware/build/px4_fmu-v5_default/mavlink /cygdrive/d/PX4/firmware/v1.13.2/Firmware/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink/message_definitions/v1.0/development.xml

[20/1157] Generating parameters.xml

[21/1157] Generating ../../../platforms/nuttx/NuttX/nuttx/.config

ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.

[Ankur Bose]

The issue you are facing with building 1.13 is because in 1.13 PX4 has changed all .cmake files to .board files. There are many such changes in 1.13 compared to 1.12 and hence I mentioned earlier that Firmware version 1.13 is not officially supported and using 1.13 with R2022b will result in non-trivial difficult to solve errors.

[Yehenii Kovryznenko]

@Ankur Bose, got it! That makes sense, thank you!

One last question, is there a plan to support more recent PX4 versions (1.13 and beyond) in future MATLAB releases? If so, do you have any development/roadmap that I can look up to see what will become supported and when?

[Ankur Bose]

We are working on priority to add PX4 1.13 support in MATLAB. Regarding the roadmap, all I can comment now is that it will be available in a future MATLAB releases

[Yehenii Kovryznenko]

@Ankur Bose awesome, thank you!