Posts made by Jetson Nano

@Alex-Kushleyev

Thank you for your response and for helping us investigate this issue.

Please find our responses below to the questions raised:

1. Do you have PX4 logs of the VOXL ESC with one of the motors shutting down in flight?

Response:
Yes. The log file previously shared contains the PX4 flight log corresponding to the incident where one of the motors shut down during flight, resulting in loss of stability and the subsequent crash. The attached log is the same dataset we have been using for the failure analysis.

2. Is it possible that the aluminum enclosure is making contact with the ESC components, causing some kind of short? Especially during a crash, perhaps the ESC is making contact with the enclosure?

Response:
We do not believe there is any direct electrical contact between the ESC and the aluminum enclosure.

The ESC is mechanically isolated as follows:

A dedicated 3D-printed mounting structure is used between the ESC and the aluminum enclosure side walls.
Nylon spacers are used to maintain separation from the bottom-mounted aluminum heatsink.
The ESC is securely mounted and does not have any exposed conductive surfaces in contact with the enclosure during normal operation.

Based on the current mechanical arrangement, an enclosure-induced short circuit appears unlikely. However, we will perform an additional inspection of the assembly to verify clearances and mounting integrity.

3. Did you check if the motor temperature was OK after successful flights?

Response:
Yes. During successful flight tests, the motor temperatures were observed to be within normal operating limits and no abnormal heating was noticed.

4. What was the total current draw during flight when the failure occurred?

Response:
We have not yet extracted and analyzed the total current consumption at the exact moment of failure from the PX4 logs.I am currently coordinating with our team to review the logs in detail and obtain the current draw data during the affected flight. Once the analysis is completed, we will share the findings with you for further evaluation.

Please let us know if there are any additional parameters, diagnostic logs, or hardware inspections that you would recommend. We appreciate your continued support and guidance in helping us identify the root cause of this issue.

Thank you.

@Vinny @Eric-Katzfey @Alex-Kushleyev @modaltb
Hi Guys,
Any update would be great appreciated.

The requested data is provided above.

Hello @Alex-Kushleyev ,

Thank you for getting back to us.

Please find below a detailed summary of the failure scenarios observed during our recent flight testing activities. We would appreciate your assistance in analyzing these events and identifying any potential root causes.

System Configuration

• VOXL 2 → Flight Controller V2 → ESC
• Motor: T-Motor F60 Pro LV, 2020KV
• Propeller: 5-inch Three-Blade Propeller
• Battery: 6S, 5000mAh (21700 Cells)

Scenario 1 – VOXL FPV ESC Failure

During flight, the drone was operating normally when the rear-left motor suddenly stopped, causing the aircraft to lose stability and topple.

Following a system reboot, the affected motor exhibited abnormal behavior:

• The motor would begin rotating briefly.
• It would then stop unexpectedly.
• This cycle would continuously repeat.

The same behavior was reproduced while running the ESC spin.py test utility.

As part of troubleshooting, we:

• Updated the ESC firmware to the latest available version.
• Applied the recommended parameter changes.
• Repeated motor and ESC validation tests.

However, the issue persisted, and no improvement was observed.

Scenario 2 – VOXL FPV ESC No Longer Initializes

In a separate flight test using a replacement ESC, the drone was in a stable hover when the front-left motor stopped unexpectedly, causing the aircraft to topple.

Following the incident:

• The affected ESC no longer initializes correctly.
• During power-up, the ESC LEDs briefly illuminate and then turn off.
• The ESC does not appear to complete its startup sequence.

Troubleshooting performed:

• Connected the ESC directly to a computer.
• Attempted to establish communication and detect the ESC.
• Performed multiple power cycles and reconnection attempts.

Unfortunately, the ESC could not be detected, and communication could not be established. The terminal output associated with this issue was shared previously in our earlier correspondence.

Scenario 3 – Third-Party ESC Evaluation

To further isolate the issue, we replaced the VOXL FPV ESC with a NeutronRC X-CLASS 4IN1 ESC V2 (3–8S, 70A) configured using the DShot protocol.

During testing, we observed the following:

• ESC temperature increased rapidly, reaching approximately 80°C to 90°C within two minutes of flight.
• One motor would subsequently stop during flight.
• The aircraft would lose stability and crash.
• During or immediately after impact, the ESC appeared to reboot.
• Following the reboot, the system would operate normally again.

This behavior has been consistently observed across five separate flight tests, with each flight resulting in a similar failure sequence and crash.

Additional Observations

While reviewing the available flight logs, we observed elevated ESC temperatures:

• General ESC operating temperature ranged between 75°C and 88°C during the affected flights.
• ESC(0) reached a peak temperature of approximately 88°C.
• During earlier flight tests under similar operating conditions, ESC temperatures typically ranged between 60°C and 75°C.

Installation and Thermal Management Details

The ESC is installed inside a closed enclosure with the following thermal arrangement:

• Bottom-mounted aluminum heatsink.
• Thermal interface material between the ESC and heatsink.
• Side walls constructed from aluminum structural members.

Despite the presence of thermal conduction paths, the elevated temperatures observed during flight raise concerns regarding thermal dissipation and potential thermal shutdown behavior.

Flight Logs

Log File:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wxv7VZub4-7onK6YdgcJ8kSpGhpZ40mY/view?usp=sharing

Note: Access approval may be required to view the file. If the link is inaccessible, please send an access request and we will grant permissions immediately.

Given that similar symptoms have been observed across both the VOXL FPV ESC and a third-party ESC platform, we would greatly appreciate your guidance on:

• Potential root causes of the motor shutdown events.
• Whether the observed temperatures are within acceptable operating limits.
• Recommended diagnostics or logging parameters to further isolate the issue.
• Any known interactions between the motor, propeller, battery, and ESC configuration that could contribute to these failures.

Please let us know if any additional logs, hardware details, configuration files, or test data are required from our side.

Thank you for your continued support and assistance.

@Vinny @Eric-Katzfey @Alex-Kushleyev @modaltb
Hi Guys,
Any update would be great appreciated.

Hello @Vinny @Eric-Katzfey @Alex-Kushleyev @modaltb

I am facing an error with my Voxl FPV ESC. The ESC is not responding to any command. While plug in power the ESC is only blinking 3 LED for the initialization, then there is no LED blinking.
The ESC was working fine, during a flight test the motor suddenly stopped and the drone was landed safely somehow, but after that the motors are not starting, there are no visible damages.
I am attaching the terminal results, I tried to upgrade the firmware, alchange the parameter file, but the ESC is not responding. I also checked with various baudrate, the result is same, no response.

:~/Downloads/voxl-esc-master/voxl-esc-tools$ sudo python3 voxl-esc-scan.py
Detected Python version : 3.10.12 (main, Mar  3 2026, 11:56:32) [GCC 11.4.0]
Found voxl-esc tools bin version: 1.10
INFO: All COM ports:
	/dev/ttyUSB0 : FT232R USB UART - FT232R USB UART
INFO: UART Port Candidates:
	/dev/ttyUSB0
INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 2000000
INFO: Scanning for ESC bootloader: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 230400
WARNING: No ESC(s) detected
INFO: All COM ports:
	/dev/ttyUSB0 : FT232R USB UART - FT232R USB UART
INFO: UART Port Candidates:
	/dev/ttyUSB0
INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 250000
INFO: Scanning for ESC bootloader: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 230400
WARNING: No ESC(s) detected
INFO: All COM ports:
	/dev/ttyUSB0 : FT232R USB UART - FT232R USB UART
INFO: UART Port Candidates:
	/dev/ttyUSB0
INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 921600
INFO: Scanning for ESC bootloader: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 230400
WARNING: No ESC(s) detected
INFO: All COM ports:
	/dev/ttyUSB0 : FT232R USB UART - FT232R USB UART
INFO: UART Port Candidates:
	/dev/ttyUSB0
INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 57600
INFO: Scanning for ESC bootloader: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 230400
WARNING: No ESC(s) detected

ERROR: not all ESCs found

please help me out here, is there any way to figure out why is this happening and how to solve it, I had a similar instance earlier, but the ESC was responsive and one motor was glitching. it was stopping during rotation. changing motor did not help, so i changed the ESC and it worked.

what I do to maintain the ESC safety and working.

@Vinny @Alex-Kushleyev @Eric-Katzfey

Hello ModalAI Team,

I am writing to request information regarding the Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) for several hardware components that we have procured from your team for our ongoing development program.

The components include:
VOXL2
ESC
Flight Controller (V2)
Front-End Board (Camera Interface)
Camera Modules

We would appreciate it if you could share any available MTTF data, reliability reports, or qualification/test standards associated with these products.

If detailed MTTF values are not readily available, any indicative data such as MTBF estimates, environmental test results, or reliability benchmarks would also be helpful.

Please let us know if any additional information is required from our side to process this request.

Thank you for your continued support.

Hey @Alex-Kushleyev @Vinny @Eric-Katzfey ,

I had query regarding the mating cycles of the components.

Does Voxl2 and M0173 board have mating cycle limit?
Also how much is the mating cycle of the camera cables for hire, tracking and TOF?
Is there any mating cycles for flight core v2 connectors?

I would really appreciate a clarity on this
With regards

Hello @Alex-Kushleyev, @Vinny, @Tom, @Eric-Katzfey,
An update to the above query will be deeply appreciated.

Thank you

Hello @Alex-Kushleyev, @Vinny, @Tom, @Eric-Katzfey,

Greetings.

We recently came across the newly launched Teledyne FLIR Lepton XDS thermal module and are currently evaluating its suitability for integration into our UAV platform architecture based on VOXL2.

We would like to understand the feasibility of integrating the Lepton XDS with VOXL2 and request your guidance on the recommended hardware and software approach for interfacing the module and retrieving the video feed.
we seek clarification on the following points:
Are there any plans to support or officially integrate the Lepton XDS module within the VOXL2 ecosystem in future releases?
If so, is there any tentative timeline or reference documentation available?
What would be the recommended interface method for integration (e.g., MIPI-CSI, SPI, USB, or alternative interface)?
We would greatly appreciate your technical inputs, recommended configuration workflow, and any limitations we should be aware of before proceeding further.
Looking forward to your guidance.
Thank you.

@Alex-Kushleyev Thank you for reverting back. I will go through the documentation. If I disable the shutter will it work with causing any issue with respect to FFC.
Also I would wish use any other thermal camera with usb camera support, can it be used for localisation through QVIO, I will be required to create a MIPI communication, right?

I will find some documentation regarding the feature tracker question.- looking forward for your response.

Hello @Alex-Kushleyev @Vinny @Eric-Katzfey @tom

I would know whether boson is completely supported by voxl2 or is it still under development for J8 pinout.
Can I use the boson for tracking ?

Could you share what is the purpose voxl-feature-tracker, voxl-flow-server and voxl-lepton-tracker.

@Alex-Kushleyev Could you please share the pinouts of the serial console port. I am not able to find it anywhere.

@Alex-Kushleyev sure , i will test it out , thank you for your support. I will get back to you with the result once I test it out.

@Alex-Kushleyev will the microhard add-on board support it?

@Alex-Kushleyev thank you for reverting back, I will check what you suggested. Try to run diagnostics by myself. I will have to check whether I have M0130, and M0017. I have M0151, will that work.

@Alex-Kushleyev Thank you for your reply. I have a old voxl2 as well as new revised voxl 2, the one not booting is the new one, When I compared it to the old design I didn't find the barometer, but I also had noticed that the new design do not have them, i asked just in case whether it would be the cause. Thank you for clearing the query.

Please discuss with your team and let me know how can I proceed, If you need anymore data from me I can provide it.

@Alex-Kushleyev

Could you verify that this issue is due to missing sensor at U18 port

successfully\n[PROGRAM] flashed \"PrimaryGPT\" successfully\n[PROGRAM] flashed \"BackupGPT\" successfully\n[PROGRAM] flashed \"PrimaryGPT\" successfully\n[PROGRAM] flashed \"BackupGPT\" successfully\nqdl: firehose operation timed out\n\nFlash flat build passed\n"}

this is full log
this is the end line

@Alex-Kushleyev Thank you for reverting back.
While I attempt to unbrick the process is displaying as completed but after the reboot and waiting for almost 10 - 15 minutes the board is not booting.
I have turned on and off the Switch 2 for the process. I followed every step mentioned in the website.