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arXiv · 2609.31232

Cybflight: An Embedded Rust Autopilot for Aerial Robotics Research

Yifan Lin·Chao Qin·H S Helson Go·Hugh H. -T. Liu
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Abstract

Bringing an aerial robotics method from simulation to flight should not require rebuilding a mature autopilot or adding a companion computer. Cybflight is an open-source embedded Rust research autopilot whose typed, replaceable interfaces connect hardware access, perception, state estimation, trajectory planning, and control. This modular development and compile-time optimization workflow is demonstrated with replaceable Rust implementations of model predictive contour-tracking control (MPCTC) and incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion (INDI) running on one STM32H743 without a companion computer. Using this configuration, the vehicle reaches 12.38 m/s during indoor flight, while an outdoor flight using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position updates reaches 31.4 m/s. These flights show that running demanding estimation and nonlinear control entirely on a flight-controller microcontroller need not come at the expense of a modular autopilot structure.

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Yifan Lin, Chao Qin, H S Helson Go, Hugh H. -T. Liu. 2026-09-25. Cybflight: An Embedded Rust Autopilot for Aerial Robotics Research. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.31232

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