Configuring a iFlight Commando 8 radio transmitter

[Enric Cervera Mateu]

Hardware: (board / drone / SKU, serial # if you have it)
VOXL 2 Starling Indoor and Outdoor
SLAM & Autonomy Development Dr-
one
with 2 Batteries, Controller and Case
SKU: MRB-D0005-4-V2-C6-M22-K3

Board replaced with:
VOXL 2
Board Only
SKU: MDK-M0154-1-00
HS Code: 8542310000

What I am trying to do:
We have lost the original controller and we want to replace it with an
iFlight Commando 8 Radio Transmitter ELRS V2:
https://iflight-rc.eu/en-es/products/commando-8-radio-transmitter-elrs-v2?variant=44711163298057

How can we install the modalai firmware in the controller?

Thanks.

[Alex Kushleyev]

Hello @enric-cervera-mateu ,

Good news: you don't need to install any special ModalAI firmware on the iFlight Commando 8. ModalAI does not provide transmitter firmware — the Commando 8 ships pre-loaded with EdgeTX and a built-in ELRS module, which is exactly what you need to control a VOXL 2 Starling.

Here is what you actually need to do:

1. Make sure you have the right frequency variant

The Starling V2 ships with a 915 MHz BetaFPV ELRS receiver. You must use a Commando 8 with a matching band:

• If your drone has the 915 MHz receiver → get the iFlight Commando 8 ELRS 868/915 MHz V2
• If your drone has a 2.4 GHz receiver → get the iFlight Commando 8 ELRS 2.4 GHz V2

Mixing bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz TX with 915 MHz RX) will prevent binding entirely.

2. Match ELRS firmware versions

The ELRS firmware version on the transmitter module and the receiver must share the same major version (e.g., both on 3.x). Mixing 3.x and 2.x is not supported.

• Check the TX firmware version in EdgeTX: go to SYS → Hardware → TX Module or the ELRS Lua script.
• Check the receiver firmware version via the voxl-elrs tool on the drone (see Step 4).
• If versions don't match, update both using the ExpressLRS Configurator for the TX module, and voxl-elrs for the receiver.

3. Bind the transmitter to the receiver

Two methods work with ELRS:

Method A — Binding phrase (recommended):
Both the TX module and receiver must be flashed with the same binding phrase. If the original controller used a binding phrase, you'll need to reflash the receiver on the drone with a new phrase that matches what you set on the Commando 8.

Method B — Button bind:

1. Power on the drone. Within 30 seconds, press and hold the bind button on the ELRS receiver.
2. On the Commando 8, start binding from the ELRS Lua script (Tools menu in EdgeTX).
3. The receiver LED will change when binding succeeds.
4. Power-cycle the drone after binding. (Skipping this step causes "Detected 0 radio channels" errors.)

4. Configure the VOXL 2 software

SSH into the VOXL 2 and edit the PX4 configuration file:

vi /etc/modalai/voxl-px4.conf

Set the RC protocol to CRSF:

RC=CRSF_RAW

Then restart the PX4 service:

systemctl restart voxl-px4

5. Verify RC input

After binding and restarting, verify channels are publishing:

px4-listener input_rc

If no channels appear, check:

• Power-cycle was done after binding
• journalctl -b -u voxl-px4 for driver errors
• Physical wiring on connector J19 (receiver TX → RC_UART_RX, receiver RX → RC_UART_TX, 5V, GND)

Wiring reference (J19 on VOXL 2)

Receiver pin	VOXL 2 J19 pin
5V	VDC_5V_LOCAL
GND	GND
TX	RC_UART_RX
RX	RC_UART_TX (needed for voxl-elrs firmware updates)

---

For the full wiring diagram and RC configuration reference, see the official docs:

• RC Configs: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-rc-configs/
• voxl-elrs tool: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl-elrs/

If you continue to have binding issues (particularly if the receiver is still bound to the original lost controller), you may need to reflash the receiver to clear the old binding phrase. The voxl-elrs tool can help with this for BetaFPV receivers.

Sources

• https://docs.modalai.com/voxl2-rc-configs/ — VOXL 2 RC controller configuration, wiring, supported protocols
• https://forum.modalai.com/topic/3066/elrs — ModalAI forum thread on ELRS setup with VOXL 2 Starling
• https://forum.modalai.com/post/17958 — Forum post on switching Starling 2 from Ghost Atto to ELRS
• https://shop.iflight.com/Commando8-Radio-Transmitter-ELRS-V2-Pro2092 — iFlight Commando 8 ELRS V2 product page
• https://github.com/ExpressLRS/ExpressLRS — ExpressLRS project (for Configurator tool)

[Enric Cervera Mateu]

Thank you very much @alex-kushleyev

[juancho248]

Title: Starling 2 Max – Dual 12 MP RGB Cameras, ToF and Downward-Facing Image Capture

Hello ModalAI Engineering Team,

We are evaluating the Starling 2 Max for an agricultural computer vision application involving rose bud detection, counting, and phenological-stage classification.

Our intended workflow involves capturing high-resolution images above rose crops and processing them through our FloraVision AI platform.

We are particularly interested in the dual 12 MP RGB camera configuration, preferably with ToF capability (C29).

Could you please help clarify:

1. Which Starling 2 Max configuration provides the most suitable high-resolution RGB cameras for our application?
2. Is the C29 configuration currently supported, and what are its camera and depth-sensing capabilities?
3. Can the RGB cameras be configured for downward-facing image acquisition?
4. Can the platform capture full-resolution still images programmatically, rather than only video frames?
5. What camera controls are available through the SDK, including exposure, gain, image format, resolution, and capture timing?
6. Can captured images be associated with timestamps and available vehicle pose or localization metadata?
7. What onboard storage options and image-transfer interfaces are supported?
8. Can images be stored locally during a mission and transferred after landing without requiring continuous Internet connectivity?

We plan to process the images using a cloud-based computer vision pipeline. Real-time onboard inference is not an initial requirement.

We would appreciate links to relevant camera documentation, SDK examples, and supported hardware configurations.

Thank you for your assistance.

FloraVision AI Engineering Team
Ecuador

[Alex Kushleyev]

@juancho248

Sorry for the delay, please see the answers below:

@juancho248 said:

Which Starling 2 Max configuration provides the most suitable high-resolution RGB cameras for our application?

All versions of Starling 2 Max come with dual IMX412 cameras (one front-facing, one down-facing).

@juancho248 said:

Is the C29 configuration currently supported, and what are its camera and depth-sensing capabilities?

yes, c29 is supported. Note that TOF (depth sensor) does not work outdoors due to sunlight

@juancho248 said:

Can the RGB cameras be configured for downward-facing image acquisition?

The rear IMX412 is already down-facing. The front camera is forward-facing, so you would need to make modification to make it down-facing

@juancho248 said:

Can the platform capture full-resolution still images programmatically, rather than only video frames?

Yes, you can capture full resolution images, including RAW10 , which can be processed offline for best results. Processed YUV also supported.

@juancho248 said:

What camera controls are available through the SDK, including exposure, gain, image format, resolution, and capture timing?

exposure, gain can be changed in real time. resolution can only be changed before camera server is started, but we support multiple streams with multiple resolutions (so you could have one full resolution stream for sparse captures and lower resolution for video feed). SW zoom is also available for processed images (YUV and video).

@juancho248 said:

Can captured images be associated with timestamps and available vehicle pose or localization metadata?

yes, each image has metadata, including timestamp, exposure, gain. The timestamp is using linux monotonic time, which can be correlated with other data sources that are logged with same time source.

@juancho248 said:

What onboard storage options and image-transfer interfaces are supported?

built-in storage (EMMC 120GB split into two partitions, typically at least 80-90GB free on a fresh system install - dont remember the exact number). you could support USB-based storage as well. Transfer images can be done using the USB / ADB interfrace. The adb itself is slow (<5MB/s) but a usb-ethernet can be enabled on the same USB connection, that is typically ~35MB/s transfers. If you use wifi on the drone, that is also an option. wifi speed depends on typical factors.

@juancho248 said:

Can images be stored locally during a mission and transferred after landing without requiring continuous Internet connectivity?

Yes, as long as you don't run out of local storage. Note that RAW10 images from IMX412 at full resolution (4040x3040) are about 15MB each. YUV of the same resolution are 18MB each. You can also compress them to JPG on voxl2.

Please let us know if you have any other questions of if I missed anything.

Alex