2
The heartbeat message shows that a system is present and responding. The type of the MAV and Autopilot hardware allow the receiving system to treat further messages from this system appropriate (e.g. by laying out the user interface based on the autopilot).
Type of the MAV (quadrotor, helicopter, etc., up to 15 types, defined in MAV_TYPE ENUM)
Autopilot type / class. defined in MAV_CLASS ENUM
System mode, see MAV_MODE ENUM in mavlink/include/mavlink_types.h
Navigation mode, see MAV_NAV_MODE ENUM
System status flag, see MAV_STATUS ENUM
System safety lock state, see MAV_SAFETY enum. Also indicates HIL operation
Bitmask showing which links are ok / enabled. 0 for disabled/non functional, 1: enabled Indices: 0: RC, 1: UART1, 2: UART2, 3: UART3, 4: UART4, 5: UART5, 6: I2C, 7: CAN
MAVLink version