@Chad-Sweet
What is the "basic drone bring up process"?

I can fly it in manual mode, it's not easy to fly, but I felt like its more due to my skill level as its behavior from virtual joystick was somewhat similar to when I tried virtual joystick with your RB5 drone.

It does drift noticeably. I think this drift is excessive but again, I'm not sure if it's an issue with the drone or my skill level using virtual joystick.

It didn't seem to respond to virtual joystick inputs in position mode but I didn't extensively enough test that mode. I'll test that mode again and see what happens.

I got my drone setup with MAVROS and Q Ground Control and it appears to be responding when I publish to /mavros/setpoint_velocity/cmd_vel_unstamped

However, there's some issues with the drone's response. I've only tested it moving purely vertically up and it is unstable / doesn't respond right away.

For publishing to the topic I made my own ros node (velocity_publisher.py) that lets me input the desired velocity in the form (vx,vy,vz,wz). This input corresponds to the movement in m/s (or rad/s) in the drone's forwards (vx), left (vy), and up (vz) directions, with wz corresponding to rotation along the z (up) axis. I confirmed that I am publishing correctly when using rostopic echo. I confirm that these directions are correct; I have moved the VOXL FLight deck itself powered up but un-attached to the drone while observing rostopic echo /mavros/local_position/velocity_body.

For testing, my steps were as follows:
1 - Open QGround Control and 3 terminals. On each of the terminals I ssh to the drone.
2 - On terminal 1 I run MAVROS as per your instructions here: https://docs.modalai.com/mavros/
3 - On terminal 2, I run velocity_publisher.py
4 - On terminal 3, I arm the drone using rosservice call /mavros/cmd/arming True
5 - On terminal 2 I input my desired command velocity.

Here are my issues:
1 - I publish (0,0,vz,0). The drone doesn't move until (approx) vz>0.5. This is an issue if I want the drone to move at a speed less than 0.5 m/s.

2 - When the drone is moving it is unstable and drifts undesirably. While I input (0,0,vz,0), I only want it to move straight up. However, it clearly has very noticeable lateral motion.

3 - Some motors are sluggish to start when arming.

Some theories as to the cause of the issue:
1 - Improperly calibrated ESCs. They were calibrated as per the steps here: https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-pwm-esc-calibration/
Though, I did change the PWM_MAIN_MIN / PWM_MAIN_MAX parameters on QGRoundControl. I'll reset them to factory defaults and re-calibrate everything.

2 - Improperly calibrated sensors, especially gyroscope. I don't think this is an issue I calibrated on Q Ground control using a wired connection. But same as # 1, I can reset the parameters on Q Ground Control and re-calibrate everything,

3 - Misaligned propellers. I can re-assemble the mounts for the motors to ensure each of them are properly aligned.

I will be resetting the parameters and recalibrating everything on the VOXL Flight deck as well as re-assembling the propeller mounts. What else should I look at?

I haven't tried it but I was just able to publish to /mavros/setpoint_velocity/cmd_vel_unstamped and the motor speed appeared to respond as expected when testing without propellers. This only works if the drone is set to offboard mode.

Thanks. I got it working and it appears to be calibrated. It also appears to be responding as intended with MAVROS when I publish to /mavros/setpoint_velocity/cmd_vel_unstamped

I tested with props off and powered via battery. I published 0,0,1,0 corresponding with vertical speed of 1 m/s up and the motors sped up. I then published 0,0,-1,0 and the motors slowed down as expected.

@Adrian-Hidalgo

@modaltb
I'm not positive that the ESC needs 4000. I just put that setting on QGC to test what would happen. I'll have to check the ESC documentation to verify its PWM range.

Additional testing with pwm info:

It does appear to be attempting to adjust PWM signal as I throttle the drone on virtual joystick:

One possible theory - the ESC / motors need more PWM then what can be provided by QGC / VOXL Flight Deck. The max PWM it can provide is around 2100, even if the I set PWM_MAIN_MAX to 4000, it doesn't provide more than approx 2100. I'm certain that PWM_MAX_MAIN is the correct setting, as when I set this to 1600, and check pwm info, the PWM at max throttle is around 1600.

Overall, the problem is something that effects all ESCs or all the motors. It is unlikely that all 6 ESCs and all 6 motors are broken, if faulty parts are an issue (but everything else was good to go) then the properly functioning motors/ESCs would spin while the broken ones wouldn't. It's also unlikely that all the wiring between the VOXL Flight and all 6 ESCs would be improper.

If the issue is related to the physical components, I beleive it would be one of the following:

• the brand of motor is incompatible
• the brand of ESC is incompatible
• the breakout board is faulty
• the connection from the breakout board to the VOXL Flight deck is faulty
• PWM output on VOXL Flight Deck is faulty (J1007). Unlikely as I have two VOXL Flight Decks. Furthermore, I have done the following:
  1 - disconnect PWM from VOXL Flight Deck. ESCs remain connected to power distribution
  2 - connect drone to battery - ESCs chime
  3 - while the drone is powered up, I connect PWM to VOXL Flight Deck via J1007. The ESCs chime again, coinciding with making that first jingle in the calibration process.

However, since the issue effects all ESCs / motors, a software issue, or an issue with the VOXL Flight Decks is a possibility. I think hardware issues with the VOXL Flight Deck is unlikely as I have tested two of them.

As for software issues, this could be PX4 version or QGround Control parameters, or something else. But I have no indication to tell me that the PX4 version or QGC params are the issue, I've tested two different sets of parameters; and on QGC the heading and artificial horizon respond as expected when I move the drone. I genuinely have no idea what to do next if it is a software issue.

The only other hint I have is the problem with calibration. I also do not think it is a battery / power issue, I tested it with a full battery, motors still don't spin.

I tried resetting the params, re-calibrating the sensors and using ekf2 for SYS_MC_EST_GROUP. I followed the instructions here: https://docs.modalai.com/upload-px4-parameters/

I should also note that I am working with two seperate VOXL Flight decks and have ran these tests on both of them, using both sets of params* and have the same result - which is that the motors do not spin.

*One set of params was from following your instructions - using the ek2_indoor_vio.params, the other set was one I put together myself thru trial and error, which used local_position_estimator.

Again, I tried manually changing PWM_MAIN_MAXn to and PWM_MAIN_MINn on both VOXL Flight Decks and the motors do not spin.

I tried calibrating ESCs as per your instructions, on both wired and wireless methods: https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-pwm-esc-calibration/

This part is good to go

This part is an issue, I wait a few minutes and there is no second jingle

@Adrian-Hidalgo
I cannot spin the motors in terminal of QGC using the commands you provided. I tried different variations of them too and the motors do not spin. I also tried Motors Setup and it just says "Vehicle did not respond to command MAV_CMD_DO_MOTOR_TEST"

I tried them with different options as well:

The ESC does indeed make a chime when the battery is plugged in.

I have a question - is it possible that some of the parameters I set on Q Ground control could result in my issue? Notably I should point out that I am using local_position_estimator for SYS_MC_EST_GROUP.

I have also tried changing PWM_MAIN_MAXn to 2000 and PWM_MAIN_MINn to 1000, where n is 1 to 6. I tried setting it to other values as well, This didn't work either.