INAV and Betaflight with an ERDI laser rangefinder
:::caution Status, checked 2026-11-13 There is no ERDI driver or bridge firmware for INAV or Betaflight. Nothing on this page is described as supported by either project. :::
ERDI modules talk plain UART frames (family A, family B). INAV and Betaflight do not parse these frames, and we have not published firmware that translates them into a format either project reads.
What works today
| Goal | Route | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Altitude hold or terrain following on a fixed-wing or multirotor | Run ArduPilot with the ERDI Lua driver | Verified in SITL with synthetic frames, no flight test yet |
| Keep a PX4 airframe | Companion computer sends MAVLink DISTANCE_SENSOR | Software tests only |
| Log or display distance on an INAV or Betaflight craft | Read the module on a companion computer or microcontroller with the Python or Arduino examples and record it there | Uses the published examples, no flight-controller link |
If you want to build a bridge
A small microcontroller can read the ERDI frame and re-send the distance in a protocol your flight controller accepts. Check your firmware version's own documentation for which rangefinder inputs it supports before you start; this page does not claim that any specific INAV or Betaflight input works with ERDI data.
- Frame formats and checksums: protocols and the checksum tool.
- Try a module without writing code: browser serial monitor.
- Tell us what you are building at erdilrf.com/support; a bridge with a real user is more likely to be published.