FMU version - Any benefit in using newer ones?

When choosing Pixhawk or cube Hardware, you are also confronted with a certain FMU version. As of now, this ranges from v1 in Pixhawk 1 to v6 in Pixhawk 6. Is that any important to me as a pilot?

Please forgive me that I didn’t bother working through the technical documents, but the way I understand “standards”, be it hard- or software, is that they’re mainly describe the interfaces of a closed system. This means that they’re interesting for developers, who have an harder or easier time working with them but not so much for the end user, since they don’t say anything about the “powerfulness” of the system.

I’m working with a Pixhawk 1 and I’m fully satisfied with the existing interfaces it offers.I might be interested in more RAM and IMU redundancy, but that’s surely not part of the standard.

So, for a normal pilot like me, Is there any benefit in choosing a newer FMU version over an older one?

Fmu version is more of a standard than a fixed specification, your better to use the firmware for your board as its not going to have extra drivers for hardware not on your board.

Thanks, but my question was more on the hardware side.
Disregarding all other specs, when I use a FMUv6 board with the corresponding Ardupilot firmware, does it have any advantage over a board with a lower FMU and the corresponding Ardupilot firmware? Does the FMUv6 firmware make use of any special FMUv6 features that e.g. the FMUv1 firmware doesn’t have?
Or is the FMU version unimportant to me as pilot?

These designations are a Standard set by the Droncode Foundation so ignore it. Ardupilot is not a member of this organization. Of course higher levels of this designation typically reflect more capable hardware if that answers your question. Forget about it and look at the hardware on the board.

1 Like

Yes, I heard about this “disagreement” between ArduPilot and DroneCode. However, ArduPilot supports these boards. So, as an outsider of this topic who invests money in one of these boards, this question is still interesting.

But your answer concludes what I already expected. Higher standards enable manufacturers to use a wider range of hardware, but the hardware they choose in the end is the only thing that makes the board. The end user should only look on the actually used hardware and should not concern him-/herself with the FMU version.

That’s right. In fact if one is using Ardupilot no Flight Controller should be using the generic fmuVx firmware versions. We see this mistake frequently. I know this isn’t the question you asked but it’s what @geofrancis alluded too and perhaps it will help some that find this thread from the Title.

I hadn’t realized that “FMU” was a DroneCode thing - thanks to Google, I found this thread that was uniquely informative. And thanks to Janis for the post - and Dave for the helpful responses.

Regarding the whole DroneCode/PX4 world - it’s important for anyone to keep their mission in mind. I can think of plenty of missions where a mid-range Pixhawk and PX4 would fill the mission perfectly.

And the world isn’t static - capabilities change - sometimes rapidly.

It reminds me of my I.T. role back in the 80’s when the question of Mac versus PC’s was a constant topic of debate.