@Aaky , We can share the pre-release m0065 firmware (and the px4 code is already in the branch i mentioned). I would recommend to begin testing without propellers on and confirm the configuration of motors and servos is working fine. We should be able to do more testing in the next 1-2 days. Also, you can revert m0065 firmware and use the px4 from voxl-dev branch.
I just uploaded the test firmware here : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl2-io/-/tree/pwm-improvements/voxl2-io-tools/firmware . You can update the firmware using our voxl-esc
tools:
#stop px4
systemctl stop voxl-px4
#replace $FIRMWARE_FILE below with path to the new firmware
cd /usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools;
./voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py \
--id 0 \
--firmware-file $FIRMWARE_FILE \
--device /dev/slpi-uart-2
Blue LED will blink slowly during firmware update.
(you can also use the same procedure to restore original firmware)
Then you should reboot your VOXL2 board before you use PX4 again because sometimes the firmware update causes some issues and PX4 cannot start.
You can build px4 using the following branch of px4-firmware
: https://github.com/modalai/px4-firmware/tree/voxl2-io-cleanup/src/drivers/voxl2_io . i suggest building the deb package and installing it using the deb, rather than copying files to target directly.
When you run the new branch of PX4 for the first, time, you should run it in foreground and check if VOXL2_IO has been detected. You should get output like this :
voxl-px4 -d | grep VOXL2_IO
ESC: VOXL2_IO_PWM_ESC
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Driver starting
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_BAUD : 921600
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC1 : 101
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC2 : 102
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC3 : 103
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC4 : 104
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC5 : 0
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC6 : 0
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC7 : 0
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_FUNC8 : 0
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_DIS : 1000
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_MIN : 1100
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_MAX : 2000
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_CMIN : 1050
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Params: VOXL2_IO_CMAX : 2000
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO:
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Opening UART device 2, baud rate 921600
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Successfully opened UART device
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Detecting M0065 board...
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: VOXL2_IO ID: 0
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Board Type : 35: ModalAi I/O Expander (M0065)
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Unique ID : 0x4304296039364B560671FF36
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Firmware : version 2, hash f94baad1
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Bootloader : version 0, hash 17147346*
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Reply time : 2550us
INFO [muorb] SLPI: VOXL2_IO: Driver initialization succeeded
..
Please note the firmware will be version 2 and hash will match the hash in the m0065 binary firmware name (f94baad1
)
You will see there were new parameters added, you can see their values in the print above:
VOXL2_IO_DIS : 1000 #pulse in microseconds when not armed
VOXL2_IO_MIN : 1100 #min pulse in microseconds when armed
VOXL2_IO_MAX : 2000 #max pulse in microseconds when armed
VOXL2_IO_CMIN : 1050 #min pulse in microseconds during esc calibration procedure
VOXL2_IO_CMAX : 2000 #max pulse in microseconds during esc calibration procedure
You can see we added separate params for pulses to be send during ESC calibration, so that the minimum calibration pulse is lower than the minimum when armed. You should make sure your params match these, if not, then set them to these values. You should then perform the ESC calibration, I have outlined here:
Suggested ESC calibration procedure:
- power on VOXL2 and ESC while the PWM cable is not plugged into VOXL2. Calibration procedure only works before the ESC receives any valid signals
- start px4 and QGC and verify that the calibration parameters are set to suggested values (min 1050 and max 2000) and regular min and max values are set to min=1100 and max=2000.
- verify that the voxl2_io driver has started correctly : either qshell voxl2_io status or look at the blue led on M0065 should be blinking which means it is receiving the pwm commands from voxl2_io driver (the disabled commands, since not armed)
- start the custom esc calibration procedure : “qshell voxl2_io calibrate_escs” and follow instructions (which are mainly just plug in the motor pwm cable into m0065 within 10 seconds). You can enter this command right in the px4 prompt, if you start px4 using
voxl-px4 -d
in foreground in interactive mode
- after the calibration is complete, test to make sure the PWM ranges have been correctly set:
- using QGC actuator test, set the actuator from disabled to 1100 and the motors should spinup and stay on (no jerking)
- it is encouraged to double check the motor starting point but temporarily lowering the VOXL2_IO_MIN param to 1000 and using actuator test to find the motor starting point, should be around 1060 (the calibration value was 1050). If the motor starting point is very close to 1100, it may not be safe to use this configuration, because if mixer commands 1100 during flight, variations due to temperature of the ESC MCU could cause 1100 command to be interpreted as DISABLED.
- IMPORTANT: if VOXL2_IO_MIN was temporarily modified to find the motor starting point, revert it back to the desired value of 1100
In order to test actuators other than the 4 motors, you can use QGC to configure the actuator function as for normal actuators.
Finally, I would like to remind you to start testing without propellers attached. We will be doing more testing in the next few days, but if you feel confident after no-prop testing, you can try flying. I have not experienced any issues with the new m0065 firmware or the voxl2_io px4 driver so far that would be a concern. However, there is still a higher than usual risk, so please test at your own risk (for now). Also please note that only v2 firmware should be used with this test branch (it actually checks for firmware version) and only v1 firmware must be used with the current px4 in voxl-dev.
I hope this works for you, let me know if you run into any issues.
Alex