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.

1. 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.

2. 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!