The Dronecode community met in Amsterdam on Friday, October 16, 2026, for an afternoon of talks and demos focused on defense in a fantastic event sponsored by Dronecode Foundation Platinum Member, DeltaQuad. The program covered commercial and defense related drone development topics including MAVLink-M, the MAVLink dialect for military and defense systems, and how open standards support interoperability across vendors.
The meetup ran from two in the afternoon to seven in the evening, with five talks, a break, and a demo session with 50+ people in attendance
Tools and Testing
The first three talks covered tools and testing for PX4.
- Async execution demo for PX4 precision landing, Nour ElMenshawy, Nexburg
- lazypx4: a TUI for flight control, mission planning and monitoring, Manuel Boldrer, Saxion University of Applied Sciences
- Automated Testing: Testing Drones Like a Software Engineer, Koen Klinkers, Intelic
Open Standards for Defense
After the break, two talks addressed the defense theme.
- Building the Unmanned Autonomous Battlefield, from interoperability to counter-swarm, Sander Smeets, CEO, DeltaQuad
- Sovereign, Swappable, Auditable: The Open Stack for Defense Drones, Ramón Roche, Executive Director, Dronecode Foundation
Ramón’s talk included the MAVLink-M update including how it has become a preferred standard for Drone Dominance Program 3.
Demos and Networking
Demos ran from five until close at seven, with coffee, drinks, and snacks provided by DeltaQuad. Meeting people in-person makes the community stronger, and we’re confident everyone walked away with valuable information and contacts from the networking hour.
Thank You
Thank you to our speakers, Nour, Manuel, Koen, Sander, and Ramón, for preparing and delivering their talks.
Thank you to DeltaQuad for sponsoring the meetup and supporting the demo session.
And thank you to everyone who registered and attended.
What’s Next
Work on MAVLink-M continues and please reach out to the Dronecode Foundation if you’d still like to get involved.
Watch this blog and the Dronecode Discord for development and news and the next community meetup.
