ModalAI Forum

@LucasW to answer my own question, VOXL supports 5 GHz. This can be verified by running iw list and looking at the supported channels. The /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf file does not seem to take effect when trying to specify frequencies, for instance (for 5 GHz channels 36, 40, 44, and 48: country=ch ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant network={ ssid="my-ssid" bssid=00:00:00:00:00:00 freq_list=5180 5200 5220 5240 scan_freq=5180 5200 5220 5240 proto=RSN key_mgmt=WPA-PSK pairwise=CCMP TKIP group=CCMP TKIP psk="my-pwd" } The only way I found to connect to 5 GHz is to disable the 2.4 GHz radio entirely on the router. Otherwise, the connection defaults to 2.4 GHz. On the router, it is also better to set a fixed channel (e.g., 36) rather than letting it be automatic. In auto mode, the robots could not connect systematically to the network. Note also that my question was wrong in the sense that the hostapd.conf files are used to generate the access point, not to connect in station mode. These are maybe considerations that could be added to the technical doc @Chad-Sweet ?

I tried swapping the tof camera with a spare one I had around. The spare tof worked immediately without issue. I then disconnected the spare tof, configured the camera server with only hires and tracking (with no connected tof camera, which worked fine). I then tried to plug back in the original tof and it started working again. So nothing changed, just unplugged and plugged back the tof camera and reflected the changes by configuring the camera server accordingly, weird...

@marian , I was able to replicate it and when running dmesg, I see the following message: [ 390.539854] R0: [VosMCThread][02:38:25.067557] wlan: [3231:E :PE ] limProcessAssocReqFrame: 914: Max Sta count reached : 2 Changing max_num_sta in hostapd.conf did not help. After doing a little bit of digging, it seems like this may be a hardware limitation of the wifi hardware on VOXL1 in SoftAP mode : https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm.git/+/android-msm-bullhead-3.10-n-preview-1/drivers/staging/qcacld-2.0/CORE/MAC/src/pe/lim/limProcessAssocReqFrame.c#847 . It could also be a setting somewhere low level and unfortunately we don't have any information on that. Sorry about that. The wifi module on VOXL1 is QCA6174. Alex

@boga Sorry, yes, I was referring to VOXL 2.

@Alex-Kushleyev thank you for your response, this answers my question!

@JP-Drone VOXL Flight doesn't handle cameras any differently than VOXL so that is a bit surprising to me that it would work on one but not the other as they are they same hardware and software

Express LRS does work via the above wiring on VOXL flight after testing in Q Ground Control

Hi @Ivan-Gambit Good questions. M0078 Tech Docs Reference: https://docs.modalai.com/usb-epxansion-with-fastboot-v2-datasheet/ Yes, if you have a Voxl or Voxl-Flight in an M500, you will need the M0078 PCB to expose the USB host port from J13. You will not use the provided MCBL-00009 in the M0078 kit. Yes, Voxl or Voxl-Flight J13 port was not designed with Doodle in mind, so you are best to use a splice direct from the power cable. The way to do this is as follows: Use the D+/D- and GND from the M0078 4-pin JST "J3" to the Doodle USB D+/D- and one GND [image: 1706645581587-af2cb12a-9843-46f2-b691-8db5c063c365-image.png] use the 5VDC and a GND from the Power Module to the Doodle 5V input and GND. In your case, you can remove the jumper from M0078 "J2" since you are not using any VBUS from the M0078 USB connector. If you remove the jumper on M0078 J2, that allows you to use a simple 4-pin JST to JST cable to the Doodle such as https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00015 , or convert it to a breakout cable to connect to the Doodle (Sorry I do not know how to advise further since I am not familiar with the socketed versions) Note: Yes, we have that jumper on M0078 to provide an easy way to access the 5V from the power module, but we did also not design that jumper and the traces with Doodle in mind. It was more for devices needing 1A of USB VBUS, not 2A+ that Doodle requires. You can try it, but you may have limited range at the highest power modes, and most of our cables that you would then use are also 1A limited, so problems like voltage droops/sags may occur with that approach. The key thing in all of this is to make sure you have a common GND, and the return current for USB will go where it needs and the return current for the 5V will follow it's associated GND return path. Also make sure you do not short VBUS to the 5VDC of your splice if you use that jumper J2. Might be best to just leave it off, but since those pins are "HOT" maybe add a bit of Kapton over them to protect against inadvertent shorts. If you are hesitant to make splices in the power feed for Voxl, you can see if one of our pre-spliced power cables we offer can give you a jump start, such as: https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00211 and then remove the JST to provide what you need on the Doodle side. But, if you need all 4 wires for the I2C port on Voxl, you can start with an MCBL-00001 and then just move contacts from one cable to another.... https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00001 There really are a lot of ways to do this (sorry if it's info overload). I'm happy to review your final solution. If you want some extra support we can email you if you want to share more non-public drawings or such. Just let us know! But, if you are willing to share your setup and pics, it would be faster and you'd be helping others in the same situation Thanks!

@skl1g14 , very nice!! Thank you for documenting your configuration and results!!

@rdjarvis Woot! Enjoy!

Since you are in the voxl-flight category, I'll assume you are using Flight Core v1. If so, here are the details https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-firmware

You should compare the settings as configured in the code here. We provide the code so you can fork and implement your own configuration if needed

Can you run the following after boot and compare what you see on a board with working wifi and non-working one: dmesg | grep wlan There should be a bunch of wlan-related messages and you could diff the output between the two boards to help narrow down the issue. Alex

@m4v3r said in Flight Core w/ BMI088: Thanks so much for clarifyiing this for me and I take it you wouldn't suggest using it since it's an older part? My only suggestion is to use the ICM parts since that will always be installed on our boards, and you'll have no software mismatch builds across platforms old and new. It's the Bosch parts that have fallen out of favor lately in the market and were also very hard to get last year hence the move to start DNI'ing them. Thanks!

Hey, just to give a little update here: I found out how to set the "force mavlink mode" variable in the voxl-vision-hub.conf which was forcing the parameter back in PX4, and simultaneously set it to "Normal" in PX4. So far I don't see any downsides from using MAV_1_MODE=0 (normal). I'm only making use of voxl-mavlink-server and voxl-vision-hub for the time being, basically to use VOXL's connectivity to send MAV commands to the PX4. Do you think using "normal" will have any downsides? The inconsistency between your documentation and the .conf and PX4 firmware files still exists though, so I'd really like to get some more insight on this. Thanks and a great weekend to everyone.

this usually means one of the following: camera configuration does not match what is installed. the configuration needs to match what is installed, not what you want to use a connector is not properly seated a connector is backwards