Updating the Flight Controller

The flight controller can be updated over USB using the standard PX4 uploader script.

A helper script is also included in the ARK-Electronics/ark_jetson_scripts repository.

https://github.com/ARK-Electronics/ark_companion_scripts/blob/main/jetson/scripts/flash_px4.sh

#!/bin/bash

DEFAULT_FW_PATH=/tmp/ark_fmu-v6x_default.px4
FW_PATH=${1:-$DEFAULT_FW_PATH}

echo "Flashing firmware: $FW_PATH"

if [ ! -f "$FW_PATH" ]; then
    echo "Firmware file does not exist, exiting"
    exit 1
fi

SERIALDEVICE=$(ls -l /dev/serial/by-id/*ARK* | awk -F'/' '{print "/dev/"$NF}')

if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "ARKV6X not found, exiting"
    exit 1
fi
echo $SERIALDEVICE

sudo systemctl stop mavlink-router
python3 /usr/bin/reset_fmu_wait_bl.py
python3 /usr/bin/px_uploader.py --port $SERIALDEVICE $FW_PATH
sudo systemctl start mavlink-router logloader.service

Building and Flashing PX4 on the Jetson

You can build and flash PX4 from the Jetson. Follow the normal Ubuntu dev guide instructions for cloning PX4, installing the toolchain, and building the firmware.

You may need to install gcc-arm-none-eabi separately through apt.

sudo apt install gcc-arm-none-eabi

Ubuntu Development Environment | PX4 User Guide (main)

If you are using the ARKV6X flight controller, you can build and flash PX4 using the following command.

make ark_fmu-v6x upload