FOSDEM 2026 is a wrap, and what an exciting time it was. From a packed PX4 meetup in Leuven to FOSDEM in Brussels, the Dronecode community showed up strong for the largest free and open source developer gathering in Europe.
Pre-FOSDEM: PX4 + Septentrio Meetup in Leuven
We kicked things off on Friday, January 30 with a half-day PX4 community meetup in Leuven. Big thanks to Septentrio (part of Hexagon) for sponsoring the event and to DeltaQuad for extending the evening and sponsoring drinks. The event brought together PX4 developers, GNSS engineers, and drone enthusiasts for an afternoon of technical sessions and community connection at De Hoorn Bar & Resto.
The agenda covered PX4 project updates, a deep dive into GNSS jamming and spoofing mitigation, and a hands-on look at the PX4-Septentrio integration. Attendees got to see live demos of jamming detection, autopilot setups, and ROS integration, followed by an open community feedback session.
The energy was great, the conversations were even better, and the meetup was a strong start to the year for the PX4 community in Europe.
FOSDEM Stand: Dronecode + The Zephyr Project
At FOSDEM itself, we shared stand AW-06 with The Zephyr Project across both days of the conference. The stand featured live demos, PX4-powered hardware on display, and plenty of stickers. We spent the weekend fielding questions about getting started with PX4, discussing Pixhawk standards, ROS 2 integration, and connecting with developers from across the open source embedded systems world.
Robotics and Simulation Devroom
The Robotics and Simulation devroom returned for its second year at FOSDEM, and it was packed. The devroom hosted 22 talks throughout the day in room UB2.147, with a long queue outside for most of the day — a clear sign that interest in open source robotics continues to grow.
Our Talk: Precision Landing with PX4 and ROS 2 Using Aruco Markers
Ramon Roche and Beniamino Pozzan took the stage in the Robotics and Simulation devroom to present “Precision Landing with PX4 and ROS 2 using Aruco Markers.” The session walked through a complete precision landing pipeline built with PX4, ROS 2, OpenCV, Aruco markers, and Gazebo, the same pipeline used in our hands-on workshops.
The talk covered the pieces of PX4 architecture that matter to ROS developers, the PX4 ROS 2 interface (including the PX4 ROS 2 Library by Auterion), simulation with Gazebo, OpenCV-based Aruco detection, and a precision landing controller using PI velocity control. The goal was practical: give ROS developers a working example they can take home and run on their own machines.
A Docker container and open repository with all the source code were made available for anyone who wants to reproduce the full pipeline.
Linux Foundation FOSDEM Reception
On Saturday evening, we attended the Linux Foundation’s annual FOSDEM reception at Au Bassin in Brussels. It was a great chance to connect with folks from across the LF project ecosystem in a more relaxed setting and continue the conversations that started during the day.
Thank You
FOSDEM week was a reminder of why open source communities matter. From the technical depth of the devroom to the hallway conversations at the stand to the laughs over drinks in Leuven, these events are where collaboration happens and where ideas turn into code.
Thank you to everyone who attended, presented, volunteered at the stand, or simply stopped by to say hello. Thanks to Septentrio (part of Hexagon) for sponsoring the Leuven meetup, DeltaQuad for extending the party, The Zephyr Project for sharing the stand, and FOSDEM for making it all possible.
Get Involved
Want to stay connected with the Dronecode community? Here’s where to find us:
- Dronecode Foundation: dronecode.org
- Dronecode Discord: chat.dronecode.org
- PX4 Discussions: discuss.px4.io
See you at the next one.
