Dronecode Foundation Unveils the Pixhawk FMUv6X-RT Standard, with a Shift to NXP's Crossover MCUs
Shift aims to meet the demand for more compute power on-board, with Arm Cortex-M7 and Cortex-M4 cores.
The Dronecode Foundation has announced the release of a new open standard for aerial drone flight management units (FMUs), building on the Pixhawk FMUv6X platform: the FMUv6X-RT, developed by the Pixhawk Special Interest Group and based on the NXP i.MX RT1176 processor.
"The new v6X-RT standard represents an exciting addition to the Pixhawk ecosystem. By including the NXP MCIMXRT1176 and other i.MX RT family parts, this opens the path for multi core and gigahertz compute speed while also significantly easing memory constraints and enhancing features with improved interface robustness and hardware-backed security," claims NXP's Iain Galloway of the new standard. "Other additions include CAN-FD with Signal Improvement CAN (SIC) as well as introducing 100Base-T1 two-wire Ethernet capability."
Developed by the Pixhawk Special Interest Group, hosted by the Dronecode Foundation under the Linux Foundation, the FMUv6X-RT is the first Pixhawk design to include an NXP "crossover" microcontroller — delivering one Arm Cortex-M7 core running at 1GHz and one Cortex-M4 core running at 400MHz plus 2MB of static RAM (SRAM). The design also includes NXP's EdgeLock SE051 secure element, total isolation for its sensor domains with separate buses and power control, and an "advanced sensor suite" including three inertial measurement units — the Bosch BMI088, TDK ICM-42688-P, and TDK ICM-42686-P — a Bosch BMM150 compass, Bosch BMP390 pressure sensors, dual GPS receivers with support for external magnetometer and barometer add-ons, a high-accuracy barometric sensor, and a calibration EEPROM.
"At the technical level, the shift from the [STMicroelectronics] STM32H7 to the NXP IMX RT1176 processor increases the options available in the Pixhawk ecosystem by introducing a new level of real-time computing capability," says Dronecode Foundation general manager Ramón Roche. "This transition is accompanied by an upgrade to the memory interface, moving from standard SPI to FLEXSPI2 for FRAM access, which provides enhanced data throughput for configuration and parameter storage. The pin assignments have been extended to take advantage of the RT1176’s expanded I/O [Input/Output] capabilities, though care has been taken to ensure that the core Pixhawk interfaces remain consistent with existing implementations."
The Pixhawk FMUv6X-RT standard is available for download from the Pixhawk-Standards GitHub repository now, along with earlier versions; commercial implementations from Holybro (as the Pixhawk 6x-RT) and Agam Robotics (as the Autopilot v6X-RT) are already available, starting at $280, with more to follow.