flightHAT mounted on a Raspberry Pi 5 with its breakaway tabs fitted
On a Raspberry Pi 5, tabs fitted

Raspberry Pi HAT · Flight controller

flightHAT

Turn a Raspberry Pi into a Pixhawk-class drone.

In development

Price to be announced

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flightHAT turns a Raspberry Pi into a Pixhawk-class drone: a real-time STM32H743 flight controller with its own IMU, barometer and compass, on a HAT that plugs into the 40-pin header. The flight controller runs PX4, ArduPilot or Betaflight and flies the aircraft, while the Pi (or a Jetson, ST or TI dev kit) runs your vision, autonomy, video and networking, linked over MAVLink. One 2S–6S battery powers both.

About this product

Features and specifications

Features

  • STM32H743 flight controller (480 MHz) with an ST IMU, barometer and magnetometer
  • PX4, ArduPilot and Betaflight support, linked to the host over MAVLink or MSP
  • The host can update the flight controller firmware in the field
  • flightHAT and host both run from the ESC connector, just like any other flight controller
  • On an input overload the host is switched off and the flight controller keeps flying, so it can failsafe safely
  • Standard connectors: Pixhawk JST-GH for GPS, CAN and telemetry; Betaflight JST-SH for the 4-in-1 ESC and receiver
  • Raspberry Pi Zero size with breakaway tabs for Raspberry Pi 4 / 5 mounting
  • Designed for NDAA compliance

Specifications

Flight controllerSTM32H743, Arm Cortex-M7, 480 MHz, 2 MB flash, 1 MB RAM
SensorsIMU, barometer, magnetometer
Flight stacksPX4 (primary), ArduPilot, Betaflight
Battery input2S–6S (6.0–26.1 V)
Host power output5.2 V, up to 3 A
Motor outputs4 × DShot (4-in-1 ESC connector)
PortsDroneCAN, GPS, RC IN, TELEM1, 2 × host peripheral ports, USB-C
LoggingmicroSD
Size65 × 30 mm (65 × 56 mm with tabs)
MountingM2.5, Raspberry Pi Zero and Pi 4 / 5 hole patterns
Operating temperature−20 to +50 °C
WeightTBD
DatasheetDatasheet (PDF, preliminary, Rev 0.1) →
User manualComing soon
FirmwareComing soon

Technical details

Ports and compatibility

HOST PORTSPORTSHOST / COMPANIONRaspberry PiPi 5 · Pi 4 · Pi Zero 2 WJetson · STM32MP257F-DK · SK-AM62A-LPOrange Pi Zero 3WFLIGHT CONTROLLERSTM32H743Cortex-M7 · 480 MHzPX4 · ArduPilot · BetaflightIMU · baro · compassmicroSD loggingHOST SPIhost SPI bus7-PIN JST-GHHOST UART/I2Chost UART + I2C6-PIN JST-GHESC4 × DShot · battery in8-PIN JST-SHTELEM1UART, flow control6-PIN JST-GHGPSUART + I2C compass6-PIN JST-GHCANDroneCAN4-PIN JST-GHRC INCRSF / ELRS · S.BUS4-PIN JST-SHUSBUSB 2.0 deviceUSB-C40-PIN HEADERUART + RTS/CTS · MAVLink / MSPBOOT0 / NRST reflash · host 5 V
flightHAT / block diagramHardware rev X1

Supported hosts

HostNotes
Raspberry Pi 5Primary target. Mount with the tabs on; powered by flightHAT (3S or more recommended)
Raspberry Pi 4 Model BPrimary target. Mount with the tabs on; powered by flightHAT (3S or more recommended)
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WPrimary target. Tabs off; powered by flightHAT from any pack. Needs a 40-pin header fitted; HOST UART not available
NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano / NX dev kitsHeader only. Needs its own 9–20 V supply; flow control needs a pinmux change
STMicroelectronics STM32MP257F-DKHeader only; powered by flightHAT
Texas Instruments SK-AM62A-LPHeader only. Needs its own supply; host link without flow control
Orange Pi Zero 3WPi Zero size; powered by flightHAT (3S or more at full load). Host link without flow control; HOST UART not available. Not NDAA (Chinese maker and SoC)

Flight stacks

StackSupport
PX4Primary (MAVLink)
ArduPilotSupported (MAVLink)
BetaflightSupported (MSP)

Preliminary. flightHAT is in development (hardware revision X1); specifications may change before release. Contact us about volume orders, integration or early access.

Includes

What's in the box

  • 1×flightHAT board, breakaway tabs attached
  • 4×Nylon spacers, 11.1 mm
  • 4×M2.5 × 25 mm nylon pan-head screws
  • 4×M2.5 nylon hex nuts

From the blog

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