# UAVCAN

Source: https://forum.modalai.com/topic/2785/uavcan
Category: VOXL 2 and VOXL 2 Mini (https://forum.modalai.com/category/26/voxl-2-and-voxl-2-mini)
Tags: voxl-2
Posted: 2023-10-27 18:20:47 UTC by wilkinsaf
Replies: 9 · Views: 2289

## wilkinsaf · 2023-10-27 18:20:47 UTC

Hello, 

I understand that the VOXL2 does not have support for UAVCAN. However, I was curious what a workaround might look like. Would it be adding a ESP232 board to translate from UAVCAN to i2c and writing a driver for that? Would it be creating a USB device that takes UAVCAN messages and shoots them off to the PX4 instance running on the DSP?

Was curious if anyone had thoughts on this as there are a lot of UAV/DroneCAN peripherals

## Reply by wilkinsaf · 2023-10-30 19:46:04 UTC

Spoke to 

@Eric-Katzfey 

For the near term, we could integrate a teensy board (https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy41.html) that supports can bus hardware, gets information from the CAN device, and then relays that to the VOXL2 over UART using the ModalAI IO software.

For the longer term, Modal is hoping to support CAN on their VOXL2 IO board, but that is minimum 6 months out

## Reply by wilkinsaf · 2023-10-31 03:51:31 UTC (in reply to wilkinsaf)

I also just realized this was also kind of answered here: https://forum.modalai.com/topic/2735/enabling-can-driver-on-voxl2?_=1698720944161

## Reply by wilkinsaf · 2023-11-02 22:33:30 UTC (in reply to wilkinsaf)

@Eric-Katzfey 

Not sure if you have seen this device: https://zubax.com/products/babel

## Reply by Eric Katzfey (ModalAI staff) · 2023-11-02 22:56:52 UTC (in reply to wilkinsaf)

@wilkinsaf Nope, haven't. There seems to be a variety of devices out there that could be suitable but we haven't had a chance to evaluate any of them. If you are only trying to talk to a single CAN device it seems like there should be a simple UART to CAN adapter board available that would do the appropriate conversion. But, again, we haven't seen or tried anything like that. We would definitely be eager to hear if someone has successfully implemented something like that.

## Reply by wilkinsaf · 2023-11-02 23:07:13 UTC (in reply to Eric Katzfey)

@Eric-Katzfey We are having one of our guys test it out. Will let you know

## Reply by Steve Turner · 2023-11-07 22:56:16 UTC (in reply to wilkinsaf)

@wilkinsaf Definitely interested in this as well!

## Reply by wilkinsaf · 2023-11-08 15:46:43 UTC (in reply to Steve Turner)

@Steve-Turner https://shop.zubax.com/products/zubax-babel?variant=6012823404573

we ordered this. still waiting for it to arrive, but will be integrating it when it does

## Reply by Denver Hopkins · 2024-02-16 19:03:55 UTC (in reply to wilkinsaf)

@wilkinsaf Haven't seen anymore conversation on this topic, and find ourselves facing similar requirements. Wondering if you've made any progress evaluating options or integrating/testing anything?

## Reply by wilkinsaf · 2024-02-16 20:55:58 UTC (in reply to Denver Hopkins)

@Denver-Hopkins We had other projects come up. But this is starting to creep to the top of our list. If you would like to fast track it, feel free to email me at andrew.wilkins@ascendengineer.com