feat(manual_control): Publish source of manual control setpoint via mavlink

[RomanBapst]

Solved Problem

When both RC input and manual control via a mavlink input device (such as Joystick) are available, it's not clear which device is currently used for manual control. PX4 implements COM_RC_IN_MODE parameters, which specifies input priorities, and the ManualControlSetpoint topic includes a source parameter, however this info is not published via mavlink and trying to figure out the source from the parameter value alone is not possible.

PX4 implements the MANUAL_CONTROL mavlink output stream, however, according to mavlink specs, this message is intended to be published by the controlling device, not the autopilot.

Therefore, I think it makes sense to add a new MANUAL_CONTROL_STATUS message, which captures the source of manual control.

Solution

1. Capture the sender system and component id of the manual control message sender in the manual control setpoint topic, in the case where manual control message are received via mavlink interface by the autopilot.
2. Publish a new MANUAL_CONTROL_STATUS message via mavlink, which specifies the source of manual control messages the autopilot is currently relying on.

Changelog Entry

For release notes:

Feature: Implement new MANUAL_CONTROL_STATUS mavlink messsage, which contains information about source of manual_control_setpoint messages.

Alternatives

Test coverage

Context

Mavlink PR: mavlink/mavlink#2540

[github-actions]

💡 Commit messages could be improved

Not blocking, but these commit messages could use some cleanup.

Commit	Message	Suggestion
b196ce7118	update mavlink to include MANUAL_CONTROL_STATUS message	Missing conventional commit format (e.g. "feat(ekf2): add something")

See the commit message convention for details.

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This comment will be automatically removed once the issues are resolved.

[github-actions]

🔎 FLASH Analysis

px4_fmu-v5x [Total VM Diff: 88 byte (0 %)]

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    +0.1%     +28  +0.1%     +28    uORB::compressed_fields
    +2.4%     +12  +2.4%     +12    MavlinkReceiver::handle_message_manual_control()
    -0.7%      -4  -0.7%      -4    MavlinkReceiver::handle_message_hil_sensor()
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px4_fmu-v6x [Total VM Diff: 96 byte (0 %)]

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 --------------  -------------- 
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    +0.5%     +36  +0.5%     +36    on_topic_update()
     +10%     +36   +10%     +36    ucdr_serialize_manual_control_setpoint()
    +0.1%     +28  +0.1%     +28    uORB::compressed_fields
    +2.4%     +12  +2.4%     +12    MavlinkReceiver::handle_message_manual_control()
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    -0.7%      -4  -0.7%      -4    MavlinkReceiver::handle_message_hil_sensor()
    -0.2%      -8  -0.2%      -8    UxrceddsClient::run()
    -0.0%      -8  -0.0%      -8    [section .text]
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Updated: 2026-07-10T08:04:05