@Eloi This is great feedback and thanks so much for sharing with our community. Your experience and willingness to share with us is very much appreciated, so thanks!!! We will definitely NOT delete this post 🙂

I know our Mech Engineers have their nuances with SolidWorks, and I think keeping models in separate directories, and also local hard-drives (not in a cloud location) makes sense since there is a lot of overlap with individual parts and DSS likes fast un-metered access to data as far as I know. Glad you got it all worked out, and let us know if you need anything else.

I assume you are referring to VOXL 2? If so, there is no PWM output on VOXL 2 as the Snapdragon processor onboard does not have PWM output.

If you already have another flight controller you can use VOXL 2 as the companion computer to that flight controller https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-external-flight-controller/

Hi @Roy-Wood ,

Natively, the RC and PX4IO drivers are looking at UART on J19.

The ESC driver natively looks to J18 (E in the diagram). We've not tried RC on that UART and it's not "easily" configurable through a PX4 param, although I'm pretty sure modifying code could get it going... let me know if you are opening the hood up to the code base and I can point ya towards areas.

@Eric-Katzfey I updated to release 0.9 and that solved the topic.
Thanks!

@Moderator Yes, we can build a custom one and get it listed soon.

However, in the meantime, you can start with our MCBL-00061 and add in additional contacts needed for the uBlox module.
Here is MCBL-00061:
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00061
and a purchase link: https://www.modalai.com/products/mcbl-00061
and then you can follow the tips here to help you add in extra contacts and the shroud for your uBlox module (we are making more updates to this site weekly)
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-userguides/

Let us know if this helps!!
Thanks

Hi @modaltb Travis, it took me a bit to have time to get back to this, but I've confirmed the problem. There was a short between input and ground in the small 4-pin GH connector I was using to connect to the VOXL2 IO board. Given I just found that laying around, I should have caught this earlier. Thanks for your help! I can confirm that the PX4IO app does see the R9SX input now. I'll also refer to your other post soon about trying to setup the Graupner GR-16 as I'll be moving to that this summer.

Hi @Nathan-Sizemore
No, that is a behavior we know about, but does not impact peripheral mode (due to a diode "OR" inside the circuits).
We are taken steps to change this behavior on future designs to allow full OTG support.
However, Voxl2 M0054 does not have that, and can only function as device/peripheral on that port.
When a PC/Host plugs in, the VBUS from that host is then detected by the Power Mgmt ICs (PMICs) to enable proper peripheral mode. We know that this behavior of VBUS is not ideal, but as just mentioned we will improve it later.

Any tips on how to control this from ROS for offboard mode?

@Mastermind Okay, interesting. Let us know if you figure out the root cause. Thanks!

@Will Can you also try setting EKF2_MAG_TYPE to 5?

Hi @wilkinsaf
Our Schematic for the "B-Quad" (Voxl2 Developer Test Board, M0144) are live!!
https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-dev-test-board-datasheet/#schematics

In there, you can see an example of how to design the proper connections for powering Voxl2 from J5. VDCIN_5V would be from a 6A capable power supply on your host system (carrier board):
80eff3be-05ab-47a2-968a-3425fefebe49-image.png

@Aaron-Porter , thank you for clarifying. We resolved your issue offline, as this was a pre-release development effort.

Moving forward, all customers have two options:

if you already purchased M0065 without ModalAI bootloader (the board was using old px4io bootloader and firmware), you can request a free replacement that will be sent with our latest bootloader and firmware installed (please request via support email) all the new M0065 shipments will come with ModalAI bootloader and firmware

With the new bootloader / firmware combination, there is no need for STLink at all. The firmware will be updated via UART directly from VOXL2 or optionally via a USB adapter. The firmware update protocol is very similar to our ESC firmware update protocol, so we will be able to use voxl-esc tools to perform the firmware update.

We will be updating the docs shortly (https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-io-firmware/) and will post an update here once it's ready.

Alex

Hi @majjam
I'm glad Alex is helping you.
Nothing should ever be "searing hot" in our platforms.
If it is, it may be that you have a 5V supply connected to the 3.3V supply of the MCU by an errant connection using one of the connectors, and over time the MCU will fail (likely very promptly).

Please double check your wiring and connections to all peripherals and connectors using this page as a guide: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-io-datasheet/#connector-callouts
Be sure you do not connect any 5V supply to the 3.3V pins.

Thanks!

@Aaky , the mixer should never output a value lower than mixer min (while armed).

@maddyr13

besides enabling 4 additional channels, the changes included:

introduce new UART message between PX4 and M0065 board to allow specifying output pulse with high resolution (previously limited to only command range of 0-800 which was remapped to 1-2ms) change the output pulse to OneShot, which means for every command from Flight Controller, there is only one PWM pulse (per channel) generated. This synchronizes the PWM output to Flight Controller update cycle and reduces total delay between FC and ESCs. there was a bug in case of SBUS input was used, the output PWM rate was reduced to only 100hz (normally about 400hz using 1-2ms pulse, which is a limitation of the pulse width, since flight controller update loop is 800hz).

I am curious if you were using SBUS input into M0065 before for your RC, in which case the pwm update rate was reduce to only 100hz.

Change to OneShot should not have effect on the pulse width, only the delay of it. It is possible that with new firmware, the ESCs are getting updates at higher rate, which could mean that if there is high frequency noise (picked up by gyro from propeller vibrations), the ESCs are now receiving more noisy commands, which would cause the motors to heat up more.

If you have the PX4 logs from before the M0065 firmware change, you can take a look and see if gyro was picking up a lot of noise (more than 5-10 deg/s is considered more than normal). Additionally you can check the noise in the actuator outputs.

Are you still using m500 frame? did you modify it in any way? maybe VOXL2 needs more vibration insulation. Also, what you could do is restore the original M0065 firmware, use unmodified PX4 and compare results again (making sure to save the logs).

Also, did you go through the ESC calibration and updated the PX4 actuator ranges, as instructed, after uploading the new M0065 firmware?

Alex

@Eric-Katzfey

We were able to resolve the issue. We went to /etc/modalai/voxl-px4.conf and changed the RC params to Spektrum.

@restore , i don't think this module will work with VOXL2_IO because it seems the Seagull MAP2 interface expects direct connection to the I/O pins, which is not the case when using VOXL2_IO module.

Alex

@xav04 , yes, please see https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-io-user-guide/

@Jetson-Nano, can you please clarify what exactly you are asking?