1. Hardware You Need

• Pixhawk 2.4.8 (has DF13 6-pin TELEM ports)
• Standard 6-pin DF13 to 6-pin DF13 cable that came with Pixhawk (or a new one)
• FTDI-style serial cable or direct wiring with a 3.3V-compatible cable. The Jetson Nano UART is 3.3V – do NOT use 5V logic or you will damage the Nano.
• Recommended ready-made cable: Foca V2.0 or any “3.3V 6-pin DF13 serial cable” (very common on AliExpress/Banggood), or the official Pixhawk “Dronecode” 6-pin JST-GH cable if you have a newer carrier board.

2. Wiring (Most Common and Reliable)

Use TELEM2 port on Pixhawk 2.4.8 → Jetson Nano J41 header (UART1, /dev/ttyTHS1 on newer JetPack or /dev/ttyS0 on older)

Critical: Only connect TX, RX, and GND (3 wires). Do not connect the 5V pin or you risk frying the Nano.

If you use a standard Pixhawk 6-pin to 4-pin FTDI cable (very common), the pinout is usually already correct when you plug the black wire (GND) toward the edge of the Nano.

3. Pixhawk Side Configuration (ArduPilot – most people use this)

Mission Planner or QGroundControl → Parameters:

For PX4 instead of ArduPilot:

In QGroundControl → Parameters → MAV_1_CONFIG → TELEM 2
Set baud rate (usually 576115) and MAVLink instance.

4. Jetson Nano Side (Software)

JetPack 4.6+ (Ubuntu 18.04) is most common and stable.

Disable the serial console that grabs the port:

sudo systemctl stop nvgetty
sudo systemctl disable nvgetty
sudo udevadm trigger

Check which device appears:

ls -l /dev/ttyTHS*   # usually /dev/ttyTHS1 on JetPack 4.6
# or /dev/ttyS0 on some older images

Test with MAVProxy or pymavlink:

pip3 install pymavlink mavproxy dronekit
mavproxy.py --master=/dev/ttyTHS1 --baudrate 576000 --aircraft MyCopter

Or with ROS/MAVROS (very common on Nano):

sudo apt install ros-melodic-mavros ros-melodic-mavros-extras
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mavlink/mavros/master/mavros/scripts/install_geographiclib_datasets.sh
chmod +x install_geographiclib_datasets.sh && ./install_geographiclib_datasets.sh

# Then launch example:
roslaunch mavros px4.launch fcu_url:="udp://:14550@127.0.0.1:14557" gcs_url:="" fcu_protocol:=v2.0 serial:=/dev/ttyTHS1 baud:=576000

Use the actual device and baud rate you set.

5. Optional – Higher Speed (921600 baud)

Works fine with short (<30 cm) good cables:

• Set SERIAL2_BAUD = 921600 on Pixhawk
• On Nano: --baudrate 921600 or in MAVROS .launch file

Common Problems & Fixes

• Garbage/no data → swapped TX/RX wires (very common)
• Jetson shows /dev/ttyTHS1 but nothing → you probably still have nvgetty running
• Random disconnects at high baud → bad cable or ground loop (add a second ground wire)
• Pixhawk reboots when plugging cable → you connected 5V pin by mistake

That’s it! This exact setup has been used on thousands of drones with Pixhawk 2.4.8 + Jetson Nano for computer vision, ROS, offboard control, etc.

If you want a plug-and-play cable, search AliExpress for “Pixhawk 2.4.8 to Jetson Nano TELEM cable” – many sellers make exactly the 3-wire version now.