MAVLINKHUD

The Future of Flight: Bringing an ArduPilot HUD to XR Glasses

December 19th, 2025
Cockpit view showing a pilot wearing XR glasses with a holographic Primary Flight Display HUD overlaying the horizon

For even the most experienced ArduPilot pilots, one fundamental safety challenge remains constant: the "chin-down" problem. Whether you're monitoring a complex commercial mission or performing a high-speed FPV run, checking your Mission Planner telemetry currently requires looking away from your aircraft and down at a tablet or laptop. In that split second, you've broken Visual Line of Sight (VLOS), increasing risk and reducing your situational awareness.

We believe there's a better way. Today, we are excited to announce that MAVLink HUD is moving into active development for Augmented Reality (AR/XR) glasses compatibility.

True Heads-Up Flying

By leveraging the new wave of consumer XR glasses—such as those from XREAL, RayNeo, and Rokid—we are bringing a professional ArduPilot XR Glasses Primary Flight Display directly into your field of view. Instead of looking down, your critical drone telemetry floats naturally against the sky, overlaying the horizon while you keep your eyes locked on the aircraft.

How the Optical See-Through Stream Works

The technical foundation is surprisingly elegant. These glasses function as a secondary high-resolution display tethered via USB-C to your Android device. Our implementation takes advantage of the unique properties of Optical See-Through (OST) OLED optics. In these displays, "black is transparent."

By rendering our Mission Planner Augmented Reality Stream with a deep black background and bright neon wireframes, the "interface" disappears, leaving only the glowing flight data. The result is a high-contrast, holographic AR Glasses HUD that remains readable even against bright daylight skies.

The Development Roadmap

Our initial focus is on the core Primary Flight Display (PFD), designed with a wireframe aesthetic for maximum clarity:

  • Artificial Horizon: Real-time pitch and roll visualization synced to your EKF state.
  • Flight Tapes: Vertical scrolling tapes for real-time Airspeed and Altitude.
  • Compass Heading: A clear directional tape aligned with your line of sight.

But the PFD is just the beginning. Our vision for future situational awareness tools includes:

  • Perspective Waypoints: Visual markers rendered in the actual sky at their GPS coordinates, showing you exactly where your next turn is.
  • Peripheral Map: A high-contrast "dark mode" 2D navigation map tucked into the corner of your vision.
  • Priority Alerts: Critical system warnings—like battery thresholds or geofence breaches—that flash in your peripheral vision to demand immediate action.

Join the Beta

This project is currently in active development. We are fine-tuning the refresh rates and optimizing the UI specifically for the focal lengths of modern XR optics. If you want to be among the first to experience the MAVLink HUD in Augmented Reality, keep checking back here. We'll be announcing beta testing opportunities for XREAL and Rokid users very soon.

The days of looking down are numbered. It’s time to look up.