ArduPilot on Voxl2

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP What are the settings of all the SERVO(x)_ params?

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP If you set the SERVO(x)_FUNCTION parameters according to this: https://ardupilot.org/plane/docs/servo-functions.html#overview do you get any PWM output?

[TomP]

@Eric-Katzfey Here are my settings (no PWM output):

SERVO1_FUNCTION,4
SERVO1_MAX,1900
SERVO1_MIN,1100
SERVO1_REVERSED,0
SERVO1_TRIM,1500
SERVO2_FUNCTION,19
SERVO2_MAX,1900
SERVO2_MIN,1100
SERVO2_REVERSED,0
SERVO2_TRIM,1500
SERVO3_FUNCTION,70
SERVO3_MAX,1900
SERVO3_MIN,1100
SERVO3_REVERSED,0
SERVO3_TRIM,1100
SERVO4_FUNCTION,21
SERVO4_MAX,1900
SERVO4_MIN,1100
SERVO4_REVERSED,0
SERVO4_TRIM,1500
SERVO5_FUNCTION,0
SERVO5_MAX,1900
SERVO5_MIN,1100
SERVO5_REVERSED,0
SERVO5_TRIM,1500
SERVO6_FUNCTION,0
SERVO6_MAX,1900
SERVO6_MIN,1100
SERVO6_REVERSED,0
SERVO6_TRIM,1500
SERVO7_FUNCTION,0
SERVO7_MAX,1900
SERVO7_MIN,1100
SERVO7_REVERSED,0
SERVO7_TRIM,1500
SERVO8_FUNCTION,0
SERVO8_MAX,1900
SERVO8_MIN,1100
SERVO8_REVERSED,0
SERVO8_TRIM,1500

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP Hmm, that looks correct. On my test setup running ArduPlane with those values I see output values being sent to the M0065 board. I'm wondering if there is a connectivity issue between the VOXL 2 mini and the IO board.

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP Can you tell me how you have connected the UART pins on M0065 to the UART pins on VOXL 2 mini? Like the actual pin numbers that are connected?

[TomP]

@Eric-Katzfey I can rule out connection problems. I checked the contacts on the VOXL2-Mini and the IO board with a continuity tester. Everything is well connected.

I know that with ardupilot you can at least control the servos without arming. Is this perhaps implemented differently here? Then I would have to calibrate the sensors etc. to test this.

[TomP]

@Eric-Katzfey Here is the pin configuration (J19 on VOXL2-Mini to J4 on IO Board):

VOXL2-Mini-----IO Board
9-----------------1
8-----------------3
7-----------------2
6-----------------4

(I mistyped the table at the beginning. I have corrected the typo.)

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP Yep, that all looks fine. Shoot. I may need to send you a new package with extra debug information to help debug this since by default there really isn't much we can see.

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP Can you stop ardupilot and then run this command on VOXL 2 mini? voxl-2-io detect

[TomP]

@Eric-Katzfey said in ArduPilot on Voxl2:

Yep, that all looks fine. Shoot. I may need to send you a new package with extra debug information to help debug this since by default there really isn't much we can see.

What do you mean by that?
"a new package with extra debug information"

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP A new voxl-ardupilot package with debug information added. But we may not need that. Try voxl-2-io detect and then if that is successful then try voxl-2-io scan

[TomP]

@Eric-Katzfey said in ArduPilot on Voxl2:

@TomP A new voxl-ardupilot package with debug information added. But we may not need that. Try voxl-2-io detect and then if that is successful then try voxl-2-io scan

voxl2-mini:~$ voxl-2-io detect
enabling bridge
bridge enabled
[INFO] Detected VOXL2 IO on default port (2).

ESC detected: ModalAi I/O Expander (M0065)

disabling bridge
bridge disabled
voxl2-mini:~$ voxl-2-io scan
enabling bridge
bridge enabled
Successfully pinged VOXL2 IO on default port (2).
INFO: VOXL2 IO Information:

    Board      : version 35 : ModalAi I/O Expander (M0065)
    UID        : 0x8108322152518882066BFF54
    Firmware   : version 1, hash 6b5ec459
    Bootloader : version 0, hash 5ba5857f

---

disabling bridge
bridge disabled

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP Okay, I think that firmware needs to be upgraded. Can you try voxl-2-io and choose upgrade_firmware?

[Eric Katzfey]

@Eric-Katzfey Or just voxl-2-io upgrade_firmware?

[TomP]

@Eric-Katzfey said in ArduPilot on Voxl2:

voxl-2-io

It works! Many thanks for the great support!
The firmware upgrade was the solution.

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP Wonderful! So glad to hear. And I would really love to hear how the flight testing goes. We've never tried a VOXL 2 (or VOXL 2 mini) on a fixed wing (with ArduPilot) so be careful and triple check to make sure everything looks setup correctly before launching.

[TomP]

@Eric-Katzfey said in ArduPilot on Voxl2:

@TomP Wonderful! So glad to hear. And I would really love to hear how the flight testing goes. We've never tried a VOXL 2 (or VOXL 2 mini) on a fixed wing (with ArduPilot) so be careful and triple check to make sure everything looks setup correctly before launching.

It is an honor for me to report. We will be careful. Of course, a crash can also occur independently of the VOXL2. This is a new drone that we are building.

What might be relevant for you is that we have found a gimbal that will fit one of your cameras with a bit of hardware hacking. The gimbal can also be controlled via serial interface using Ardupilot. We have already successfully tested this with the VOXL2-Mini.

[Eric Katzfey]

@TomP Oh, yes, this is all great news! Very exciting to hear! I will send an email to your account with some follow up questions.

[Sam Kiley]

@Eric-Katzfey

I am also messing around with Ardupilot on a fixed wing, and wondering if any sort of voxl-io conf is needed for passthrough the PWM and CRSF RC? in a previous SDK, I believe there was a voxl-io-server, which no longer exists in 1.5 SDK, from what I can tell.
I have upgraded the firmware and followed along with the rest of the thread.
Thanks for any info.

[Eric Katzfey]

@Sam-Kiley No need for any voxl-io configuration. voxl-io-server is for use with PX4, not ArduPilot. The ArduPilot firmware will detect if there is a VOXL ESC connected or a VOXL 2 IO board connected. If it detects the IO board then you will have up to 8 channels of PWM available.