Prerequisites

DroneOS runs in two modes: simulation (everything on one machine) and real hardware (split across multiple devices). What you need depends on which path you're taking.

Simulation (SITL)

Everything runs on a single machine — the simulator, the SDK, and the control services.

Hardware

• CPU — Intel i5 or better (4+ cores recommended)
• RAM — 8 GB minimum, 16 GB recommended
• GPU — Dedicated GPU recommended for Gazebo rendering. Not required for headless mode (HEADLESS=1)
• Storage — SSD recommended. PX4 + Docker images use significant disk space

Software

1. Docker and Docker Compose — Install Docker for your OS
2. PX4 Autopilot — Install PX4 and its dependencies. On Ubuntu, run the ubuntu.sh script from the PX4-Autopilot repo — this installs Gazebo and all simulation tools
3. Gazebo — Installed automatically with PX4's build system (make px4_sitl gz_x500). No separate install needed

Supported OS

• Ubuntu 22.04+ (native, recommended)
• WSL2 on Windows (with GPU passthrough for rendering)

That's it. Clone the repo, start PX4 SITL, start Docker services, fly. See the Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Real Hardware

On real hardware, the responsibilities are split across devices. The drone carries the flight controller and companion computer. You interact with it remotely over a network.

On the drone

• Companion computer — Raspberry Pi 5 (recommended) with Ubuntu Server. Runs DroneOS services in Docker
• Flight controller — Pixhawk (or compatible) running PX4, connected to the companion computer via Serial/USB
• Mesh VPN — Installed on the companion computer for remote access over 4G/VPN
• Serial access — sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER (reboot after)
• udev rule for stable device naming:

# /etc/udev/rules.d/99-pixhawk.rules
SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="26ac", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0011", SYMLINK+="pixhawk-telem2"

On your machine

• Network access to the drone (via mesh VPN, local network, or cellular)
• drone_control.py or the web interface to send commands
• No Docker or PX4 required — those run on the drone

See Real Hardware Setup for the full guide.

Optional

• QGroundControl — Manual monitoring, parameter configuration, and safety override
• Google Coral Edge TPU — USB Accelerator for on-drone object detection (experimental)