Hello. From the wiki http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-autopilots.html the Pixhawk 4 is listed under closed hardware so does that mean not all features of ardupilot and mavlink will work with the Pixhawk 4?
Also, would you recommend the original pixhawk over the pixhawk 4 for an autonomous tracking quad?
Closed Hardware just means that the pcb layout is proprietary basically.
The Pixhawk4 is fully supported.
For an “autonomous tracking” quad a Pixhawk4 will be a better choice than an original Pixhawk, in my view, but it’s not a huge deal. An original will be fine. The PH4 has a little bit of vibration isolation plus more flexible serial port configuration.
I’d probably choose a Pixhawk4-mini over the standard PH4 - the motor outputs are silly on the standard. Mini has a normal servo rail.
If using the Pixhawk4, it is very important to specifically load the right firmware because the bootloader on the board doesn’t allow the ground stations to know that it’s a Pixhawk4 (it just looks like every other pixhawk). The Pixhawk4 firmware can be downloaded from here:
http://firmware.ardupilot.org/Copter/stable/Pixhawk4/arducopter.apj
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Thanks for the information, I’ll look into the mini.