CUAV Pixhawk V6X Manual

Pixhawk V6X^® is the latest update to the successful family of Pixhawk® flight controllers designed and made in collaboration with CUAV^® and the PX4 team.

Pixhawk^® V6X brings you the ultimate in performance, stability and reliability in all aspects.

• Arm® Cortex®-M7 processor (STM32H753) with Floating Point Unit (FPU), 480MHz high-speed operations and 2MB flash. Developers can be more productive and efficient, allowing for more complex algorithms and models.
• High-performance on-board, low-noise IMU and automotive-grade magnetic compass based on FMUv6X open standard. It aims to achieve better stability and anti-interference ability.
• Triple redundant IMU & double redundant barometer on separate buses. When the PX4 Autopilot detects a sensor failure, the system seamlessly switches to another to maintain flight control reliability.
• An independent LDO powers every sensor set with independent power control. A vibration isolation System to filter out high-frequency vibration and reduce noise to ensure accurate readings, allowing vehicles to reach better overall flight performances.
• External sensor bus (SPI5) has two chip select lines and data-ready signals for additional sensors and payload with SPI-interface.
• Integrated Microchip Ethernet PHY for high-speed communication over Ethernet with onboard devices such as mission computers.
• Newly designed vibration isolation system to filter out high frequency vibration and reduce noise to ensure accurate readings.
• IMUs are temperature-controlled by onboard heating resistors, allowing optimum working temperature of IMUs
• Modular flight controller: separated IMU, FMU, and Base system connected by a 100-pin & a 50-pin Pixhawk® Autopilot Bus connector.

The Pixhawk V6X is ideal for corporate research labs, academic research and commercial applications.

For other drone accessories, please visit our Store. Watch more about products on our YouTube.

Processors & Sensors

• FMU Processor: STM32H753
  • 32 Bit Arm® Cortex®-M7, 480MHz, 2MB flash memory, 1MB RAM
• IO Processor: STM32F103
  • 32 Bit Arm® Cortex®-M3, 72MHz, 20KB SRAM
• On-board sensors
  • Accel/Gyro: BMI088
  • Accel/Gyro: ICM-42688-P
  • Accel/Gyro: ICM-20649
  • Mag: RM3100
  • Barometer: 2x ICP-20100

Electrical data

• Voltage Ratings:
  • Max input voltage: 5.7V
  • USB Power Input: 4.75~5.25V
  • Servo Rail Input: 0~9.9V
• Current Ratings:
  • Telem1 and GPS2 combined output current limiter: 1.5A
  • All other port combined output current limiter: 1.5A

Interfaces

• 16- PWM servo outputs
• 1 Dedicated R/C input for Spektrum / DSM and S.Bus with analog / PWM RSSI input
• 3 TELEM Ports（with full flow control）
• 1 UART4(Seial and I2C)
• 2 GPS ports
  • 1 full GPS plus Safety Switch Port(GPS1)
  • 1 basic GPS port(with I2C,GPS2)
• 2 USB Ports
  • 1 TYPE-C
  • JST GH1.25
• 1 Ethernet port
  • Transformerless Applications
  • 100Mbps
• 1 SPI bus
  • 2 chip select lines
  • 2 data-ready lines
  • 1 SPI SYNC line
  • 1 SPI reset line
• 2 CAN Buses for CAN peripheral
  • CAN Bus has individual silent controls or ESC RX-MUX control
• 4 power input ports
  • 2 Dronecan/UAVCAN power inputs
  • 2 SMBUS/I2C power inputs
• 1 AD & IO port
  • 2 additional analog input(3.3 and 6.6v）
  • 1 PWM/Capture input
• 2 Dedicated debug
  • FMU debug
  • IO debug

Mechanical data

• Weight
  • Flight Controller Module: 99g
  • Core module: 43g
  • Baseboard: 56g
• Operating & storage temperature: -20 ~ 85°c
• Size
  • Flight controller
  • Core module

Pinouts

Ardupilot disposition

./waf configure --board Pixhawk6x
./waf copter --upload

PX4 disposition

Serial Port Mapping

Voltage Ratings

Pixhawk V6X can be triple-redundant on the power supply if three power sources are supplied. The three power rails are: POWERC1/POWER1, POWERC2/POWER2 and USB.

• POWER C1 and POWER C2 are DroneCAN/UAVCAN battery interfaces (recommended)；POWER1 and POWER2 are SMbus/I2C battery interfaces (backup).
• POWER C1 and POWER1 use the same power switch, POWER C2 and POWER2 use the same power switch.

Normal Operation Maximum Ratings

Under these conditions all power sources will be used in this order to power the system:

1. POWER C1, POWER C2, POWER1 and POWER2 inputs (4.75V to 5.7V)
2. USB input (4.75V to 5.25V)

Absolute Maximum Ratings

Under these conditions the system will not draw any power (will not be operational), but will remain intact.

1. POWER1 and POWER2 inputs (operational range 4.7V to 5.7V, 0V to 10V undamaged)
2. USB input (operational range 4.7V to 5.7V, 0V to 6V undamaged)
3. Servo input: VDD_SERVO pin of FMU PWM OUT and I/O PWM OUT (0V to 42V undamaged)

Voltage monitoring

Digital DroneCAN/UAVCAN battery monitoring is enabled by default (see Quickstart > Power).

Building Firmware

To build PX4 for this target:

make px4_fmu-v6x_default

Debug Port

The PX4 System Console and SWD interface run on the FMU Debug port.

The pinouts and connector comply with the Pixhawk Debug Full interface defined in the Pixhawk Connector Standard (opens new window)interface (JST SM10B connector).

For information about wiring and using this port see:

• PX4 System Console (Note, the FMU console maps to USART3).
• SWD (JTAG) Hardware Debugging Interface

Peripherals

• Digital Airspeed Sensor
• Telemetry Radio Modules
• Rangefinders/Distance sensors

Supported Platforms / Airframes

Any multicopter / airplane / rover or boat that can be controlled with normal RC servos or Futaba S-Bus servos. The complete set of supported configurations can be seen in the Airframes Reference.

CUAV Pixhawk V6X Wiring Quick Start

Wiring Chart Overview

The image below shows how to connect the most important sensors and peripherals (except the motor and servo outputs). We’ll go through each of these in detail in the following sections.

Vehicle Front

GPS + Compass + Buzzer + Safety Switch + LED

The Pixhawk^® V6X can be purchased with a NEO3 GPS (opens new window)(10-pin connector) and should be connected to the GPS1 port. These GNSS modules feature an integrated compass, safety switch, buzzer and LEDs.

If you need to use assisted GPS, connect to the GPS2 port.

The GPS/compass should be mounted on the frame as far away from other electronics as possible, with the direction markings towards the front of the vehicle (separating the compass from other electronics will reduce interference).

Radio Control

A remote control (RC) radio system is required if you want to manually control your vehicle (PX4 does not require a radio system for autonomous flight modes).

You will need to select a compatible transmitter/receiver and then bind them so that they communicate (read the instructions that come with your specific transmitter/receiver).

• Spektrum/DSM receivers connect to the DSM/SBUS input.
• PPM receivers connect to the PPM input port.

Power

Pixhawk V6X^® is equipped with a CAN PMU lite module that supports 3~14s lithium battery. Connect the 6pin connector of the module to the flight control Power C1 or Power C2 interface.

Pixhawk V6X power port receives Dronecan digital signal from CAN PMU lite power module for voltage, current and remaining battery data, the VCC line must provide at least 3A continuous current and should default to 5.2V. A lower voltage of 5V is still acceptable but discouraged.

Telemetry (Radio) System

Telemetry radios may be used to communicate and control a vehicle in flight from a ground station (for example, you can direct the UAV to a particular position, or upload a new mission).

The vehicle-based radio should be connected to the TELEM1/TELEM2/TELEM3 port as shown below (if connected to TELEM1, no further configuration is required). The other radio is connected to your ground station computer or mobile device (usually by USB).

SD Card

SD cards are highly recommended as they are required for recording and analyzing flight details, running tasks and using UAVCAN bus hardware. An SD card is already installed on Pixhawk V6X^® when it leaves the factory.

Motors/Servo

Motors/servos are connected to the M1~M8 (MAIN) and A1~A8 (AUX) ports in the order specified for your vehicle in the Airframe Reference.

Servo Power Supply

Pixhawk V6X^® does not supply power to the servos. If using a plane or rover, an external BEC (e.g., BEC-equipped ESC or separate 5V BEC or 2S LiPo battery) needs to be connected to any of the power (+) pins in M1~M8/A1~A8 to drive the servos .

Other Peripherals

The wiring and configuration of optional/less common components is covered within the topics for individual peripherals.

Configuration

General configuration information is covered in: Autopilot Configuration.

QuadPlane specific configuration is covered here: QuadPlane VTOL Configuration

Pixhawk Autopilot FMUv6X Standard

Pixhawk Autopilot FMUv6X Standard(opens new window)

Pixhawk Autopilot Bus Standard

Pixhawk Autopilot Bus Standard(opens new window)

Pixhawk Connector Standard

Pixhawk Connector Standard(opens new window)