Considering purchasing 12x Doodle Labs radios + Sentinel 2's : possible swarm configuration? Please confirm.

Slade Villena

Hi. We were considering purchasing 12x Sentinels, but were also considering the Doodle Labs radio instead of the Microhards
https://www.modalai.com/products/mini-oem-smart-radio?variant=40946775621683

Would the Doodle Labs radio be compatible with the Sentinel? Also, do we have to install + solder the Doodle Labs radios ourselves? (Or do you provide this as a service?)

For a swarm configuration, would we need
1x Stand Alone Doodle Labs Radio for our ground station
12x Add-On Doodle Labs Radio, each mounted on a Sentinel.

Is the above the proper configuration? Would we need extra dongles / add-on boards purchased to have the radios mounted? (ie, like the Microhard dongles/add-ons etc).

Would like this confirmed, since we are now writing out a bill-of-materials, and will be making a purchase soon.

Vinny

Hi @Slade-Villena
Both radios are interfaced to Voxl2 over USB.
For Microhard, we have a more tightly integrated HW solution with our direct plug-in modules (and standalone too, 2nd link)
https://www.modalai.com/products/voxl-microhard-modem-usb-hub
https://www.modalai.com/products/mh-sa

For Doodle Labs, it requires a different plug-in board, such as our M0090 5G modem board (without a modem) to expose the USB host ports to connect to Doodle.
https://www.modalai.com/products/m0090?variant=40594936463411

When we sell a Doodle radio, we include a cable that plugs into our 4-pin USB port.
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00068

Note: The 4-pin USB cable can plug into the Microhard Radio board, but that design only supports USB2 spec 500mA (not enough to power a Doodle radio). Only our newer plug-in boards (such as the M0090 for Voxl2) can support up to 5W on VBUS.

Hope that helps you decide, and if you need further info, please reach out!

Slade Villena

@Vinny thanks for this info, it looks like our group will go with a Doodle Labs configuration.

I do have some further questions.

Is it possible to order a complete Sentinel kit + the M0090 5G board + a Doodle Labs air-radio, all pre-installed (or pre-soldered? does this require soldering?) by Modal AI? Was hoping this was a service you all could provide.
For the Doodle Labs ground-radio, do we require any other add-on boards to connect to a Laptop USB? How about connecting to an Android USB-C port? Curious how that configuration would go.

We're definitely prepared to order, just want to confirm these two pieces of critical info above, before we place the order.

Chad Sweet

Soldering is not required, though there is no direct mount. The Doodle radio connects to the Sentinel via USB. You will need to design a mount for the Sentinel to hold the radio

The standalone kit is intended to plug into the laptop

Please note, the Doodle radios have a 4 week lead time and each drone is built to order

The Sentinel is a development platform for open, UAS software development.

Slade Villena

@Chad-Sweet thanks for that.

We'll be placing an order soon!