@ApoorvThapliyal does my ros2 version on my computer could be an issue. I have ros2 jazzy running on my computer where drone has foxy

I tested the fix and snapshots work now, thank you very much!

Hi @Myles-Levine ,

I just want to double check something to make sure there is no confusion.

The lepton sensor is an IR (thermal) camera. it does not measure range. The lepton sensor plugs into the large square socket that is mounted to the M0157 / M0187 board (they are very similar). The infrared TOF sensor is a smaller (rectangular) sensor, which is marked as U1 on M0187 : https://docs.modalai.com/M0187/ .

Have you checked whether the Lepton sensor is working using voxl-portal, which would allow you to look at the IR image coming from the sensor?

Alex

@yaoyuh , it looks like the order has been taken care of. please let us know if you have any more questions.

Alex

@DronAlan https://www.modalai.com/pages/rma

@Gerhold-Ten-Voorde , our lens holders are custom and we do not have any information we could share about those, but you may be able to find similar lens holders from other sources.

IMX412 : https://www.m12lenses.com/M12-Lens-Holders-s/61.htm

For IMX664, you may want to check Runcam fpv cameras, which appear to have similar lens holder / housing, however i don't know if those would have extra threads you need.

Also, please note that if you are going to try the spacer approach, make sure that there is absolutely no gap between the spacer, lens holder, otherwise light can enter the camera from the side and affect the image quality. Also make sure that even when using the default lens holder with IMX664, the mounting holes in the aluminum housing are covered, so that light cannot get inside.

Alex

Hi @bschulzhf ,

voxl-inspect-cam -a command should not be generally used as it puts a lot of stress on the system. just use it to inspect the stream that you need, such as voxl-inspect-cam hires_down_large_color.

Also, in your camera config changes, it is not clear exactly what changes you actually made, since you did not provide a diff (but i can see that you probably disabled all the streams except for the preview stream). In any case, you should revert your changes and just inspect the stream you need to estimate the latency.

If you want to provide more information about your application, we can suggest appropriate camera server parameter changes. I do see that ae_desired_msv": 60 is potentially too dark (the target average pixel value for auto exposure control) - you can try increasing it and see if the image is too dark.

Alex

@Alex-Kushleyev this is super helpful. Thank you.

@Alex-Kushleyev Thank you so much for your response. It helped a lot.

@Igor , we just uploaded the emulator docker image, please see details in this post : https://forum.modalai.com/topic/5179/qrb5165-emulator-image-1-6

@ZuraNeb Perfect! Thank you!

@Alex-Kushleyev Awesome Thank you!

Additionally, where can I buy the propeller replacements? It's not here https://www.modalai.com/search?page=1&q=propeller

@Alex-Kushleyev said in C29 Configuration:

https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-coax-camera-bundles/#kit-pictures-and-descriptions

The flex cable is pretty short, where does the tof sensor get mounted exactly after it is plugged in? I assume it is meant to be downward facing.

Hi @mtcbj
That is the flex stiffener. Our older image modules used stainless steel. Some of our newer modules use laminate.
Those holes are likely just flex/FPC air escapes during the backer lamination process. They do not provide any functional purpose after assembly.
I see no issue filling them with epoxy.
Hope that helps!

@extmoddain ,

Can you please send a picture of the damaged ESCs? Which component blew up? Also what do the labels on the ESD bags from those ESCs say?

The 6s version of M0129 (mini ESC) should have a small label on the white 4-pin connector that says either -63 or -65 (meaning 6S and either 3.8V or 5.0V output for VOXL2 mini or VOXL2). We can also check using the serial number (label should be present on the ESC)

https://docs.modalai.com/voxl-mini-esc-datasheet/#specifications
aa7bc73c-90f7-41ae-9f28-cacb800c72eb-image.png

Alex

@ChrisB here is a system architecture to follow: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-d0014/

We do not support an RB5, that is a Qualcomm product

Hi @the_engineer ,

Please see the responses to your questions below:

Is the drone suitable for such an application, or is there a drone better suited for this kind of application?

Starling 2 Max can be equipped with two global shutter tracking cameras, two high resolution (IMX412) cameras and a TOF sensor, providing the most sensing that our platforms offer.

Is such indoor autonomous operation is feasible with the Starling 2 Max?

dual-camera VIO can be used for indoor navigation (using our integration with Open Vins software) please note that we cannot guarantee performance in your environment and you would like to achieve reliable operation, you would need to become very familiar with the software components and test and address the issues that may come up in your environment depending on how narrow the aisles are, you may consider Starling 2 (not Starling 2 Max)

To what extent can this drone be programmed and extended for research or development purposes?

majority of ModalAI software that runs on VOXL2 is open source : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/

Is the drone programmable with Python or a similar programming language?

Voxl2 runs Ubuntu 18.04 OS and you can use any standard programming languages. Most of voxl2 apis for data access (camera, imu, etc) are in C/C++ which can be extended to python via bindings. ROS is also supported.

What charge time can be expected?

Typical recommended charge rate for Li-Ion batteries is 1C, so about one hour, maybe a bit more. You are free to explore other battery vendors if you need faster charge times.

Is a docking station/ induction charging retrofit possible?

we do not support this feature, but it should be possible with additional design. You would probably need to have your own power management board that allows seamlessly disconnecting the old battery (to be charged) and applying a DC power supply.

Is the drone capable of navigating in subpar lighting conditions?

you would need to test in your specific environment and address any issues that come up. Lighting is not the only factor, but also amount of useful features, etc

What is the expected maximum flight time at maximum takeoff weight?

see this thread : https://forum.modalai.com/topic/3732/starling-2-max-payload-capacity-and-flight-time-impact additional recommended payload up to 500g

What are the operational temperature limits of the drone?

Starling 2 Max can operate in reasonable temperatures. However, you would need to monitor your CPU usage - if it hits 95C, automatic throttling will occur and the system may not be able to keep up with all the tasks. ESC is rated to run at least 100C (MCU temperature), so that should not be an issue for this particular drone, which is not significantly loaded in terms of motor power).

Does visual obstacle avoidance also work during remote controlled manual flight?

please take a look at voxl-vision-hub, but remember that this will be a starting point and you will need to develop your own application based on your requirements and testing : https://docs.modalai.com/voxl-vision-hub/

What is the expected delivery time for the system to Germany?

Expected to ship within 60 business days from San Diego, CA, as stated on our web site https://www.modalai.com/products/starling-2-max

@shiva-rv Try heating up the IMU by stressing the CPU then shooting it with air to create a large thermal gradient between the silicon of the VOXL2 and the IMU die itself, I predict you'll see the Z bias jump like crazy, but X and Y not so much.

You might also observe that the temperature gradient determines the bias, not the absolute temperature, hence using a temperature model for compensation is useless, and not applied by modal: https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/services/qrb5165-imu-server/-/blob/master/server/src/imu_interface.cpp?ref_type=heads#L168

If you're curious about the physics of why MEMs IMUs like ICM42688 act this way I'm sure your favorite AI chatbot could give you a nice explanation about the materials sciences at play here.

Practically, thermally isolate the IMU component as much as possible.

@Anthony-Kang , we are looking into this. However, initial attempts to enable Intra Refresh on VOXL2 via the OMX api did not succeed either for h264 or h265. Also h265 does not work with fixed Macro Blocks (Coding Tree Units instead), so it seems the OMX structures for this param would not work with h265.

Alex