Development of Quadcopter Based on Pixhawk and QGroundControl for Multi-Drone Formation

Autonomous multi-drone flight planning has garnered substantial attention over the past decade, with promising applications across various domains, including contactless vaccine and medicine delivery, aerial crop monitoring for precision agriculture, and coordinated drone light shows. This study presents the implementation of a basic multi-drone flight planning system using QGroundControl (QGC) as the ground control station and Pixhawk 6C as the flight controller. The objective is to achieve synchronized autonomous flight of three quadcopters along a predefined trajectory. The methodology involves configuring hardware and wiring, calibrating sensors and motors, and designing coordinated flight plans with waypoints and commands via QGC using MAVLink protocol. The scope is limited to predetermined flight paths as an initial step toward more advanced autonomous operations. Future research will explore enhancements such as obstacle avoidance, real-time adaptability, and inter-drone communication.