The official product documentation is located at https://docs.modalai.com/

The purpose of this forum is to supplement that documentation, and to update the official docs when we find information missing.

Little more detail, we've validated with FrSky X8R reciever and Taranis X7 transmitter with the following setup:

We have a new cable about to come out to assist with this wiring as well:
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00018

Hi @rapit ,

OK we validated that a USB3 device can show up, here's a "guide", but there's no new info really, just an example: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl-as-usb-host/

-Travis

Hi @gauravshukla914,

If voxl-vision-px4 is setup for VOA it will connect to the stereo and 'take over', if that's the case can you try the following before launching?

systemctl stop voxl-vision-px4

FYI for the future, the MPA architecture (https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/modal-pipe-architecture) will provide 'fan out' and allow multiple clients for a given camera.

Hi @gauravshukla914 ,

Our flight controller is a little unique in that it can't be powered off USB so yes, it will lose power and connection during the standard process. (The reason being our Flight Controller shares the 5V rail with the companion computer and 500mA off USB won't suffice!)

To get around this, we have a tool that has a user guide here:
https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-pwm-esc-calibration/

This allows you to keep the battery connected during the ESC calibration process.

Hi @gauravshukla914 ,

Thanks for the help with this. We've released a new beta version of the voxl-hal3-tof-cam-ros that supports auto detection of ToF and defaults the persist.camera.modalai.tof setting properly.

It will be in out next voxl-suite release, but is available from our dev channel here if you are interested in using this link

The updated readme is here.

Thanks!

Hi @gauravshukla914 let us take a look at this and get some info for you. Nice pictures, I always love seeing these

Hi @gauravshukla914 ,

This looks to be supported in a new feature that is in our 'beta' system image release version 3.2.0 (available at developer.modalai.com for download).

It requires an unreleased version of voxl-hal3-tof-cam-ros, see here
https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/ros/voxl-hal3-tof-cam-ros/-/blob/release/v0.0.5/source/launch/tof.launch#L31

We haven't merged this into a release yet, so we don't have a packaged release for this, but you could build from source if needed until then if you're up to try it out.

@gauravshukla914 yes we'll get an email going, I'll use the email that's tied to your account here.

Very odd! Let me get an email to you.
Thanks,
Travis

Hey @Thomas-MacNamara,

Sorry for the lag, I'm new to the USB gadget, but here's some flags found on VOXL from our standard kernel, from adb shell zcat /proc/config.gz

# CONFIG_USB_DWC3_GADGET is not set
CONFIG_USB_GADGET=y
# CONFIG_USB_GADGET_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_USB_GADGET_DEBUG_FILES=y
CONFIG_USB_GADGET_DEBUG_FS=y
CONFIG_USB_GADGET_VBUS_DRAW=500
CONFIG_USB_GADGET_STORAGE_NUM_BUFFERS=4
# CONFIG_USB_GADGET_XILINX is not set
# CONFIG_USB_GADGETFS is not set
# CONFIG_USB_MIDI_GADGET is not set

I'm guessing the actually functionality isn't there though?

Hi @Thomas-MacNamara ,

You're likely correct (not enabled). Let me double check our flags, and also what limitations you'd hit with the open source kernel build if any (where you could modify what you needed).

Hi @daboy ,

Can you please describe your setup? What OS is QGC on? Ubuntu/MacOS/Win10?

If it's Win10, there's a good chance it's a firewall settings causing you issues.

Otherwise, can you ping the VOXL from the Host computer? Can you ping the other way around?

The VOXL Flight Deck should come mainly pre-configured (we calibrate cameras on that assembly, so we configure the computer vision features (VIO by default) to startup out of the box, and Flight Core's internal TELEM port is pre-configured, so you should have a MAVLink connection between the VOXL 'side' and FlightCore 'side'.

You have QGC over WiFi which means you've got voxl-vision-px4 up, so you are good.

Are you using the computer vision features? Most of that is configured through this: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl-vision-px4/

You'll want to update the PX4 params for your particular vehicle, and do the calibration and tuning as normal (I'm not a skilled pilot so that's out of my realm), but the basic setup is captured roughly starts here: https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-connections/

If you are stuck on particular items feel free to keep 'em coming.

OK. One last thing and then I'd have to think we may need an RMA to check it out... If the cables and host machine running QGC functions on other Flight Cores, than the remaining item is that connector/connection to the microcontroller...

We can try to see a status of the MAVLink connection on the USB port by connecting over WiFi.

Get the connection up to QGC, and then go to the MAVLink terminal and run mavlink status command (I think that's what it's called, I don't have HW up right now to verify) and check for the connection on /dev/ttyACM0 (this is auto started here)

The only thing on the line there are diodes (D59, D60)... otherwise it's a straight connection into the microcontroller.

You could visually inspect D59 and D60, although it's under the board (look fur the U7 silkscreen).

@DillonAllen Sorry I just saw that you posted that above and I missed it.... OK let me think of some options here, if needed I'll email you and we can connect for a screen share.

Although we aren't VPN experts (yet), this is something I've seen myself. There are parameters that can be configured by VPN server/clients that may affect bandwidth (e.g. MTU).

There are various types of client/servers out there so it varies how these could be setup.

Also, depending on where the VPN server is located, you might be going to a server far away, and depending on the VPN server quality, they may or may be sharing resources with you.

@DillonAllen ,

The VOXL Flight has the Flight Core 'sub circuit' on-board, and when that side powers up and detects USB, the LED at the pointy tip of the board would flash green quickly for a few seconds indicating it's in bootloader mode.

This is a quick check to see if the microcontroller running PX4 is detecting USB or not.

Also, I'm assuming you have not modified the Flight Core FW or parameters. If you have, please let us know and we can explore this area.

Thanks!
Travis

Hi @schamberlin ,

There's a mixer and output module involved that handles translating the RC in to the output values.

We've been able to configure "Aux Passthrough" on channels 5 and 6 only,, but this is mixer specific, see here: https://docs.px4.io/v1.9.0/en/airframes/airframe_reference.html#quadrotor-x

FlightCore doesn't have the PX4IO microcontroller like a Pixhawk, so we don't have all the extra AUX*.

see here how to set the params: https://docs.modalai.com/voxl-m500-gimbal-user-guide/#aux-passthrough-rc-channel

Please hit me back with more questions as they come up!