QGroundControl PR: Add AMOVLAB FlyCore firmware upgrade support

gfLv_amov · August 18, 2026, 8:21am

Hi everyone,

I recently submitted a QGroundControl PR to add firmware upgrade support for the AMOVLAB FlyCore flight controller:

github.com/mavlink/qgroundcontrol

feat(FirmwareUpgrade): add AMOVLAB Flycore support (#14846)

master ← amovlgf:pr/amovlab-flycore-board

opened 03:35AM - 12 Aug 26 UTC

amovlgf

+59 -4

## Summary - Recognize the formally assigned AMOVLAB Flycore USB ID `0x1d50:0x6…1a0` as a Pixhawk-class device. - Map PX4 bootloader `board_id 1218` to `amovlab_flycore_default`. - Add focused coverage for USB metadata, flash eligibility, and PX4 firmware URL generation. ## Background The Flycore USB PID was formally allocated through [openmoko-usb-oui PR #79](https://github.com/openmoko/openmoko-usb-oui/pull/79). PX4 Flycore support has been merged in [PX4-Autopilot PR #27407](https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/pull/27407), and ArduPilot support has been merged in [ArduPilot PR #33419](https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/33419). Both PX4 and ArduPilot use hardware `board_id 1218`. The PX4 firmware target is `amovlab_flycore_default`. The Flycore bootloader and runtime firmware use the same USB VID/PID. QGroundControl's existing Pixhawk bootloader detection checks whether the USB description contains `BL`, so a second USB entry is not required. ## Implementation - Add the exact USB VID/PID entry: - VID: `0x1d50` (`7504`) - PID: `0x61a0` (`24992`) - Class: `Pixhawk` - Name: `AMOVLAB Flycore` - Add `board_id 1218` to the PX4 firmware board-name map. - Add tests covering: - the unique Flycore USB entry; - Pixhawk classification; - flash eligibility; - absence of a broad AMOVLAB manufacturer fallback; - stable, beta, and developer PX4 firmware URLs. No public API or Flycore-specific public board enum was added. Existing ArduPilot ChibiOS USB entries are unchanged. ## Validation - USB board JSON parsing passed. - Qt resource compilation and loading passed. - All affected production and test translation units compiled successfully. - Changed C++ lines passed ClangFormat checks. - `git diff --check` passed. - The PX4 master firmware URL for `amovlab_flycore_default.px4` returns HTTP 200. - Stable and beta URLs currently return 404 because Flycore has not yet been included in those release channels. ## Hardware validation - [x] PX4 bootloader automatic detection - [x] PX4 `.px4` flashing - [x] ArduPilot `.apj` flashing through the same PX4 bootloader - [x] Switching from ArduPilot back to PX4

FlyCore support has already been merged upstream into both PX4 and ArduPilot. This QGC PR adds the remaining board identification support, including:

FlyCore USB VID/PID recognition (0x1d50:0x61a0)
PX4 board_id 1218 mapping
PX4 firmware URL generation
Firmware upgrade related tests

I have also tested the firmware upgrade flow on real FlyCore hardware, including PX4 flashing, ArduPilot flashing, and switching back from ArduPilot to PX4.

The PR has been open for several days, so I wanted to share it here in case any QGroundControl/PX4 maintainers have time to take a look.

Any review, feedback, or suggestions for changes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!