This is a partial list of flight control software.
Descriptions are taken from the software's own web/github pages
8-bit flight controller firmware for Arduino.
32-bit fork of the MultiWii RC flight controller firmware
Clean-code version of the baseflight flight controller firmware.
Cleanflight is forked from Baseflight, Cleanflight was forked by Betaflight, Cleanflight is again forked from Betaflight.
Cleanflight 4.x -> betaflight 4.x -> Cleanflight v2.x -> Betaflight 3.x -> Cleanflight v1.x -> Baseflight -> MultiWii
Pushing the Limits of UAV Performance Betaflight is the world's leading multi-rotor flight control software. The global FPV drone racing and freestyle community choose Betaflight for its performance, precision, cutting edge features, reliability and hardware support. source code
INAV is a Free and Open Source Flight Controller and Autopilot Software System that is actively developed with large releases annually, and support releases as needed. source code
ArduPilot is a trusted, versatile, and open source autopilot system supporting many vehicle types: multi-copters, traditional helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, boats, submarines, rovers and more. The source code is developed by a large community of professionals and enthusiasts. source code
The following flight control software is more focused on learning, education, research, and experimentation rather than features or performance.
dRehmFlight is the flight controller for hobbyists, hackers, and non-coders interested in stabilizing their wacky and unique flying creations. The code and supporting documentation is built to bring someone up to speed on VTOL flight stabilization concepts as quickly and painlessly as possible. The code is written and presented in a way that is intuitive, easy to follow, and most importantly: all in one place. source code
madflight is a toolbox to build high performance flight controllers with Arduino IDE or PlatformIO for ESP32-S3 / ESP32 / RP2350 / RP2040 / STM32. Inspired by dRehmFlight. source code
Crazyflie is a small, versatile quadcopter for research and education. It has an ecosystem of expansion decks, clients, and development tools. source code
ESP-Drone is an ESP32/ESP32-S2/ESP32-S3 based flying development board provided by Espressif. ESP-Drone is equipped with Wi-Fi key features, which allows this drone to be connected to and controlled by an APP or a gamepad over a Wi-Fi network. This drone comes with simple-structured hardware, clear codes, and supports functional extension. Therefore, ESP-Drone can be used in STEAM education. Part of the code is from Crazyflie open source project under GPL3.0 license.
StampFly is an open source educational drone developed by Kouhei Ito and M5Stack. See Stamp Fly: An Open-Source DIY Drone Kit from Japan-Shenzhen.
It is a quadcopter based on the ESP32-S3, and it was created it with the goal of making it "legally flyable in Japan and usable for drone control classes" source code
M5Stack StampFly is based on Kanazawa StampFly
Kouhei Ito is a Professor at Kanazawa Institute of Technology and has lots of great articles (in Japanese) about drones and the related mathematics on his blog. Google Translate makes these articles accessible if you don't speak Japanese.
Main software features:
- Configurator
- Acro and angle modes
- altitude and position hold modes (working, but need to be tuned)
- ELRS
- GPS (UBlox) and Compass (HMC5883 + QMC5883L)
- Bidirectional DShot 4800 (tested up to 1200)
- Variable frequency beeper with WAV support
- SD-Blackbox incl. viewer
- Barometer (Goertek SPL06-001 + STM LPS22HB)
"Practically speaking, is there any reason to choose this over Betaflight or iNav? Likely not, but I want to have a challenge."
Includes Bi directional DShot using RPI Pico PIO
Python-based Quadcopter Flight Controller Software using a Raspberry Pi Pico, MPU-6050, and a FlySky radio transmitter & receiver.
ROSflight is a software architecture which uses a flight controller in tandem with a companion computer running ROS. This architecture provides direct control of lower-level functions via the embedded processor while also enabling more complicated functionality such as vision processing and optimization via the companion computer and ROS.
not a flight controller as such, but a collection of libraries that support flight control software. Including
- Reefwing-AHRS Attitude and Heading Reference System
- Reefwing-MSP Reefwing MultiWii Serial Protocol
- Reefwing-SBUS SBUS Library for the Nano 33 BLE
A Simple And Cool Flight Controller (ASAC FC) is a flight controller based on the rp2040 microcontroller, completely open-source.
Victor has also designed an open source RP2040 flight controller PCB and has published schematics.
Flight controller software to re-flash micro quadcopters such as the Eachine H8
Also F4 port of SilverWare
See especially: