diff --git a/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_main.h b/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_main.h
index a5468a86cc..f05b759d1c 100644
--- a/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_main.h
+++ b/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_main.h
@@ -45,9 +45,9 @@
 #ifdef __PX4_NUTTX
 #include <nuttx/fs/fs.h>
 #else
-#include <drivers/device/device.h>
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <netinet/in.h>
+#include <drivers/device/device.h>
 #endif
 #include <systemlib/param/param.h>
 #include <systemlib/perf_counter.h>
diff --git a/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_receiver.cpp b/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_receiver.cpp
index 90decb9e47..8c4b16b49c 100644
--- a/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_receiver.cpp
+++ b/src/modules/mavlink/mavlink_receiver.cpp
@@ -1624,34 +1624,56 @@ MavlinkReceiver::handle_message_hil_state_quaternion(mavlink_message_t *msg)
 void *
 MavlinkReceiver::receive_thread(void *arg)
 {
-#ifndef __PX4_POSIX
-	int uart_fd = _mavlink->get_uart_fd();
 
 	const int timeout = 500;
 	uint8_t buf[32];
-
 	mavlink_message_t msg;
 
-	/* set thread name */
-	char thread_name[24];
-	sprintf(thread_name, "mavlink_rcv_if%d", _mavlink->get_instance_id());
-	prctl(PR_SET_NAME, thread_name, getpid());
-
 	struct pollfd fds[1];
-	fds[0].fd = uart_fd;
-	fds[0].events = POLLIN;
 
+	int uart_fd = -1;
+
+	if (_mavlink->get_protocol() == SERIAL) {
+		uart_fd = _mavlink->get_uart_fd();
+#ifndef __PX4_POSIX
+		/* set thread name */
+		char thread_name[24];
+		sprintf(thread_name, "mavlink_rcv_if%d", _mavlink->get_instance_id());
+		prctl(PR_SET_NAME, thread_name, getpid());
+#endif
+
+		fds[0].fd = uart_fd;
+		fds[0].events = POLLIN;
+	}
+#ifdef __PX4_POSIX
+	struct sockaddr_in srcaddr;
+	socklen_t addrlen = sizeof(srcaddr);
+	if (_mavlink->get_protocol() == UDP || _mavlink->get_protocol() == TCP) {
+		fds[0].fd = _mavlink->get_socket_fd();
+		fds[0].events = POLLIN;
+	}
+#endif
 	ssize_t nread = 0;
 
 	while (!_mavlink->_task_should_exit) {
-		if (poll(fds, 1, timeout) > 0) {
-
-			/* non-blocking read. read may return negative values */
-			if ((nread = ::read(uart_fd, buf, sizeof(buf))) < (ssize_t)sizeof(buf)) {
-				/* to avoid reading very small chunks wait for data before reading */
-				usleep(1000);
+		if (poll(&fds[0], 1, timeout) > 0) {
+			if (_mavlink->get_protocol() == SERIAL) {
+				/* non-blocking read. read may return negative values */
+				if ((nread = ::read(uart_fd, buf, sizeof(buf))) < (ssize_t)sizeof(buf)) {
+					/* to avoid reading very small chunks wait for data before reading */
+					usleep(1000);
+				}
 			}
+#ifdef __PX4_POSIX
+			if (_mavlink->get_protocol() == UDP) {
 
+				if (fds[0].revents & POLLIN) {
+					nread = recvfrom(_mavlink->get_socket_fd(), buf, sizeof(buf), 0, (struct sockaddr *)&srcaddr, &addrlen);
+				}
+			} else {
+				// could be TCP or other protocol
+			}
+#endif
 			/* if read failed, this loop won't execute */
 			for (ssize_t i = 0; i < nread; i++) {
 				if (mavlink_parse_char(_mavlink->get_channel(), buf[i], &msg, &status)) {
@@ -1667,7 +1689,6 @@ MavlinkReceiver::receive_thread(void *arg)
 			_mavlink->count_rxbytes(nread);
 		}
 	}
-#endif
 
 	return NULL;
 }