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  3. Flight Core V2 - VOXL ESC 4in1 Integration

Flight Core V2 - VOXL ESC 4in1 Integration

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved ESCs
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  • Alex KushleyevA Alex Kushleyev

    @Jetson-Nano ,

    I checked with my colleague and they said that the current way will not work for forwarding the Neopixel LED packet to the FC V2. Here is roughly how the LED packet is created and sent to the ESC:

    • voxl-send-neopixle-cmd creates a data packet (using the specific format for ESC) and sends it to a special process modal-io-bridge via mpa pipe that is also called modal-io-bridge.
    • The modal-io-bridge is a PX4 module that is specific to VOXL2 and it runs on the CPU (not DSP). It receives the data from the mpa pipe and sends out the data using ORB_ID(modal_io_data) using data type modal_io_data_s.
    • then voxl_esc driver that runs on the DSP gets this data and forwards it to the ESC directly, as shown here: https://github.com/modalai/px4-firmware/blob/70d986f08acbf90e3752ef832151d8f993e18697/src/drivers/actuators/voxl_esc/voxl_esc.cpp#L1346
    • this approach has no option to forward the message to external FC.

    However, actually this week we are making changes to use mavlink tunnel messages instead of this custom io bridge. I will find out how to get this to work for FC V2.

    Alex

    Jetson NanoJ Offline
    Jetson NanoJ Offline
    Jetson Nano
    Veteran
    wrote on last edited by
    #7

    @Alex-Kushleyev ,
    Thanks for the clarity, I also went through the same process and was not able to find any way to forward the message to ESC through external FC.
    If you could help with a work around this approach it will be really helpful. I can test it out and get back to you.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • Alex KushleyevA Alex Kushleyev

      @Jetson-Nano ,

      I checked with my colleague and they said that the current way will not work for forwarding the Neopixel LED packet to the FC V2. Here is roughly how the LED packet is created and sent to the ESC:

      • voxl-send-neopixle-cmd creates a data packet (using the specific format for ESC) and sends it to a special process modal-io-bridge via mpa pipe that is also called modal-io-bridge.
      • The modal-io-bridge is a PX4 module that is specific to VOXL2 and it runs on the CPU (not DSP). It receives the data from the mpa pipe and sends out the data using ORB_ID(modal_io_data) using data type modal_io_data_s.
      • then voxl_esc driver that runs on the DSP gets this data and forwards it to the ESC directly, as shown here: https://github.com/modalai/px4-firmware/blob/70d986f08acbf90e3752ef832151d8f993e18697/src/drivers/actuators/voxl_esc/voxl_esc.cpp#L1346
      • this approach has no option to forward the message to external FC.

      However, actually this week we are making changes to use mavlink tunnel messages instead of this custom io bridge. I will find out how to get this to work for FC V2.

      Alex

      Jetson NanoJ Offline
      Jetson NanoJ Offline
      Jetson Nano
      Veteran
      wrote on last edited by Jetson Nano
      #8

      @Alex-Kushleyev
      just a thought, the data from Voxl2 is transfered to FC. so you can convert them to specific msg type and forward it to external FC and External FC already has modal-io-bridge, it can forward the data to ESC. There will be need of conversion of msg types multiple places, for handling and forwarding.
      the External Fc has turtle mode running on it, will it setup affect it.

      Alex KushleyevA 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • Jetson NanoJ Jetson Nano

        @Alex-Kushleyev
        just a thought, the data from Voxl2 is transfered to FC. so you can convert them to specific msg type and forward it to external FC and External FC already has modal-io-bridge, it can forward the data to ESC. There will be need of conversion of msg types multiple places, for handling and forwarding.
        the External Fc has turtle mode running on it, will it setup affect it.

        Alex KushleyevA Offline
        Alex KushleyevA Offline
        Alex Kushleyev
        ModalAI Team
        wrote on last edited by
        #9

        @Jetson-Nano , there is probably more than one way of getting this to work, but I have been told that with the new approach that we have just implemented (being tested now), the mavlink tunnel should take care of routing the LED data from VOXL2 to FC V2 to ESC.

        I asked my colleague to help describing how to test this.

        Alex

        Jetson NanoJ 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • Alex KushleyevA Alex Kushleyev

          @Jetson-Nano , there is probably more than one way of getting this to work, but I have been told that with the new approach that we have just implemented (being tested now), the mavlink tunnel should take care of routing the LED data from VOXL2 to FC V2 to ESC.

          I asked my colleague to help describing how to test this.

          Alex

          Jetson NanoJ Offline
          Jetson NanoJ Offline
          Jetson Nano
          Veteran
          wrote on last edited by
          #10

          @Alex-Kushleyev Thanks for the help. I will also test it out and get back with the results as soon as the approach is shared.
          Can you also help me with finding clarity whether turtle mode will be affected by this setup.

          Alex KushleyevA 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • Jetson NanoJ Jetson Nano

            @Alex-Kushleyev Thanks for the help. I will also test it out and get back with the results as soon as the approach is shared.
            Can you also help me with finding clarity whether turtle mode will be affected by this setup.

            Alex KushleyevA Offline
            Alex KushleyevA Offline
            Alex Kushleyev
            ModalAI Team
            wrote on last edited by
            #11

            @Jetson-Nano , As far as I know, turtle mode should work the same when running PX4 on VOXL2 and FC V2. Have you tested it? The LED command should not interfere with the turtle mode.

            I have not actually tested the turtle mode on FC myself, but the code that is running in voxl-esc px4 driver is the same, so as long as you are entering the turtle mode correctly, it should work.

            Alex

            Jetson NanoJ 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • Alex KushleyevA Alex Kushleyev

              @Jetson-Nano , As far as I know, turtle mode should work the same when running PX4 on VOXL2 and FC V2. Have you tested it? The LED command should not interfere with the turtle mode.

              I have not actually tested the turtle mode on FC myself, but the code that is running in voxl-esc px4 driver is the same, so as long as you are entering the turtle mode correctly, it should work.

              Alex

              Jetson NanoJ Offline
              Jetson NanoJ Offline
              Jetson Nano
              Veteran
              wrote on last edited by
              #12

              @Alex-Kushleyev I have not tested turtle mode with Voxl2 - FCV2 setup. I have tested with the Voxl2, internal PX4 server.
              I will test it out and get back to you.

              Jetson NanoJ 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • Jetson NanoJ Jetson Nano

                @Alex-Kushleyev I have not tested turtle mode with Voxl2 - FCV2 setup. I have tested with the Voxl2, internal PX4 server.
                I will test it out and get back to you.

                Jetson NanoJ Offline
                Jetson NanoJ Offline
                Jetson Nano
                Veteran
                wrote on last edited by
                #13

                @Alex-Kushleyev , I tested the turtle mode out and it is working fine.

                Once the approach for LEDs are shared, I will test it out .

                I had an additional query, while we are using Telem for FCV2 and ESC communication. Will the PWM output (8 pinout) still be transmission and can we access the data.

                Eric KatzfeyE 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • Jetson NanoJ Jetson Nano

                  @Alex-Kushleyev , I tested the turtle mode out and it is working fine.

                  Once the approach for LEDs are shared, I will test it out .

                  I had an additional query, while we are using Telem for FCV2 and ESC communication. Will the PWM output (8 pinout) still be transmission and can we access the data.

                  Eric KatzfeyE Offline
                  Eric KatzfeyE Offline
                  Eric Katzfey
                  ModalAI Team
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #14

                  @Jetson-Nano The updated voxl-io-server version is here: http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/dists/qrb5165/dev/binary-arm64/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb. The updated FC v2 image is here: http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/dists/fc-v2/dev/modalai_fc-v2_1.14.0-2.0.95.px4. I have only tested with PX4 running on VOXL 2 but it should also work with external FC v2.

                  Jetson NanoJ 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • Eric KatzfeyE Eric Katzfey

                    @Jetson-Nano The updated voxl-io-server version is here: http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/dists/qrb5165/dev/binary-arm64/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb. The updated FC v2 image is here: http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/dists/fc-v2/dev/modalai_fc-v2_1.14.0-2.0.95.px4. I have only tested with PX4 running on VOXL 2 but it should also work with external FC v2.

                    Jetson NanoJ Offline
                    Jetson NanoJ Offline
                    Jetson Nano
                    Veteran
                    wrote on last edited by Jetson Nano
                    #15

                    @Eric-Katzfey thank you for sharing the data.
                    I tried flashing the voxl-io-server you mentioned, but I got the following error.

                    t@t-MS-7B29:~/git/voxl-io-server-master$ ./deploy_to_voxl.sh
                    searching for ADB device
                    checking VOXL for dpkg/opkg
                    dpkg detected
                    voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb: 1 file pushed. 2.1 MB/s (25928 bytes in 0.012s)
                    dpkg: considering removing voxl-neopixel-manager in favour of voxl-io-server ...
                    dpkg: warning: ignoring dependency problem with removal of voxl-neopixel-manager:
                     voxl-suite depends on voxl-neopixel-manager (>= 0.0.3)
                      voxl-neopixel-manager is to be removed.
                    
                    dpkg: yes, will remove voxl-neopixel-manager in favour of voxl-io-server
                    dpkg: regarding .../voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb containing voxl-io-server:
                     voxl-io-server conflicts with voxl-mpa-tools (<= 1.2.3)
                      voxl-mpa-tools (version 1.2.3) is present and installed.
                    
                    dpkg: error processing archive /data/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb (--install):
                     conflicting packages - not installing voxl-io-server
                    Errors were encountered while processing:
                     /data/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb
                    DONE
                    
                    

                    @Alex-Kushleyev can you check this out

                    Jetson NanoJ 2 Replies Last reply
                    0
                    • Jetson NanoJ Jetson Nano

                      @Eric-Katzfey thank you for sharing the data.
                      I tried flashing the voxl-io-server you mentioned, but I got the following error.

                      t@t-MS-7B29:~/git/voxl-io-server-master$ ./deploy_to_voxl.sh
                      searching for ADB device
                      checking VOXL for dpkg/opkg
                      dpkg detected
                      voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb: 1 file pushed. 2.1 MB/s (25928 bytes in 0.012s)
                      dpkg: considering removing voxl-neopixel-manager in favour of voxl-io-server ...
                      dpkg: warning: ignoring dependency problem with removal of voxl-neopixel-manager:
                       voxl-suite depends on voxl-neopixel-manager (>= 0.0.3)
                        voxl-neopixel-manager is to be removed.
                      
                      dpkg: yes, will remove voxl-neopixel-manager in favour of voxl-io-server
                      dpkg: regarding .../voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb containing voxl-io-server:
                       voxl-io-server conflicts with voxl-mpa-tools (<= 1.2.3)
                        voxl-mpa-tools (version 1.2.3) is present and installed.
                      
                      dpkg: error processing archive /data/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb (--install):
                       conflicting packages - not installing voxl-io-server
                      Errors were encountered while processing:
                       /data/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb
                      DONE
                      
                      

                      @Alex-Kushleyev can you check this out

                      Jetson NanoJ Offline
                      Jetson NanoJ Offline
                      Jetson Nano
                      Veteran
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #16
                      This post is deleted!
                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • Jetson NanoJ Jetson Nano

                        @Eric-Katzfey thank you for sharing the data.
                        I tried flashing the voxl-io-server you mentioned, but I got the following error.

                        t@t-MS-7B29:~/git/voxl-io-server-master$ ./deploy_to_voxl.sh
                        searching for ADB device
                        checking VOXL for dpkg/opkg
                        dpkg detected
                        voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb: 1 file pushed. 2.1 MB/s (25928 bytes in 0.012s)
                        dpkg: considering removing voxl-neopixel-manager in favour of voxl-io-server ...
                        dpkg: warning: ignoring dependency problem with removal of voxl-neopixel-manager:
                         voxl-suite depends on voxl-neopixel-manager (>= 0.0.3)
                          voxl-neopixel-manager is to be removed.
                        
                        dpkg: yes, will remove voxl-neopixel-manager in favour of voxl-io-server
                        dpkg: regarding .../voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb containing voxl-io-server:
                         voxl-io-server conflicts with voxl-mpa-tools (<= 1.2.3)
                          voxl-mpa-tools (version 1.2.3) is present and installed.
                        
                        dpkg: error processing archive /data/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb (--install):
                         conflicting packages - not installing voxl-io-server
                        Errors were encountered while processing:
                         /data/voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb
                        DONE
                        
                        

                        @Alex-Kushleyev can you check this out

                        Jetson NanoJ Offline
                        Jetson NanoJ Offline
                        Jetson Nano
                        Veteran
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #17

                        @Alex-Kushleyev @Eric-Katzfey
                        can you check the above mentioned error.

                        Eric KatzfeyE 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • Jetson NanoJ Jetson Nano

                          @Alex-Kushleyev @Eric-Katzfey
                          can you check the above mentioned error.

                          Eric KatzfeyE Offline
                          Eric KatzfeyE Offline
                          Eric Katzfey
                          ModalAI Team
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #18

                          @Jetson-Nano To install the new voxl-io-server try dpkg --force-all -i voxl-io-server_0.0.5-202502191136_arm64.deb.

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