Topics created by voxl-phoenix

@voxl-phoenix , this may be a hardware issue because VOXL2 will boot just fine without M0173 camera front end plugged in (if the hardware is OK). It is possible that one of the camera connectors (where M0173 plugs in) has broken off or is loose, causing a hardware failure. If you would like a better diagnosis, please share a video of the voxl2 not booting, so we can see the LEDs (i realize there are green leds on top and bottom, but the way your image shows, you can see both of them. Also, in this non-booting state, does the VOXL2 show up as any USB device when plugged into a linux machine using the main USB C connector?

Alex

@voxl-phoenix , I think you also mentioned that you tried swapping the cables between tracking and imx412 camera, right? If so, it seems something got damaged in the IMX412 camera during connecting / disconnecting. For disconnecting the cables, we suggest using a special tool, please see https://docs.modalai.com/micro-coax-user-guide/#-proper-cable-and-adapter-handling- .

Also, it is hard to say for sure where exactly the issue is - M0173 board or IMX412 camera. the only good way find the cause is to replace components one at a time.

Just to elaborate on the symptoms that you are seeing : voxl-camera-server -l command essentially probes all the cameras (based on the sensormodule files located in /usr/lib/camera). Probing involves turning the camera on via the reset GPIO and attempting to talk to the camera via I2c interface. If the camera responds, the probe is successful, otherwise failed. In your case, the probe of IMX412 failed, which means either the camera could not be turned on for various reasons or the i2c communication was not working.

If you have another tracking camera AR0144, you could connect it instead of the IMX412 and see if the probe succeeds. You would need to add /usr/share/modalai/chi-cdk/ar0144/com.qti.sensormodule.ar0144_1.bin file to /usr/lib/camera (which is the AR0144 sensormodule for the camera slot 1, where the IMX412 is currently connected). Then if you run voxl-camera-server -l and detect two AR0144 cameras (3 cameras total) then i2c communication and power should be working).

Alex

@Beniamino-Pozzan Thank you so much for the info,
I wanted to try it and realised foxy has no support and with Ubuntu 18.04 on voxl-2 it is not possible to use any other ROS-2 installations easily. I will use ros2 plugin by keeping microdds as default middleware.
I hope newer ROS versions will be available for VOXL-2.

@voxl-phoenix ,

The M0134 ESC can work at 15A per channel (continuous) with 3S battery, however it needs direct air flow to cool it down. The limiting factor is going to be heat / temperature of the ESC, so I cannot answer your question conclusively. For example, if you enclose the ESC (no air flow) and then run 4 motors at 10-15A, then practically any ESC will overheat. 🙂

If you already have the M0134 ESC, I suggest that you first figure out the maximum continuous current draw with your motor / propeller. You can do this test using our voxl-esc tools, specifically the test i would recommend is the power ramp test : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-esc/-/blob/master/voxl-esc-tools/doc/low_kv_motor_tuning.md?ref_type=heads#power-ramp-test (since your motor is not low kv, you can ignore the main topic of that document, but you can see the results of the power ramp test). The maximum current should be at the maximum applied power. If you share your test plot, i can confirm that it looks OK.

The power ramp test will slowly ramp ESC output power from 10 to 100% (or whatever you set it to) and will also show the RPM and current drawn. Note that ESC temperature is also provided.

If you have your drone frame, you could mount the ESC, motors, propellers and secure the drone to a desk or something heavy (so that it does not fly away), then you can actually these tests on all 4 motors and monitor ESC temperature in these conditions. The tests can be run for a lot time, simulating RPMs at hover or higher RPMs. Even though the drone would be strapped down (not actually flying), most of the air flow over the ESC is usually coming from the propellers, so that would be a good estimate of ESC performance / temperature during flight testing.

ESC Temperature: the critical ESC temperature would be above 105C, although i would not recommend operating above 80-90C (during normal flight) - that probably means you do not have sufficient cooling. We typically like to see the ESC around 50-60C (or less) during non-aggressive flight.

If you would like an ESC that will certainly be able to handle your motors / propellers (while still needing cooling, but not as much, due to lower resistance Mosfets and other design features), you should try our FPV ESC :

If you are not familiar with the voxl-esc tools, I suggest that you check the documentation there because the tools can be used to fine tune the performance and analyze performance / prevent crashes, since you can run tests and analyze data in a test environment.

If you have any more questions, let me know.

Alex

Hi @voxl-phoenix
Yes, that M0177 flex you have plugs direct into the M0173 board 40-pin connector here: 2a2a4f8f-6b90-4ea5-937e-d0b0426ccf36-image.png
Please pay attention to the "+" and "-" notes in silkscreen for proper orientation.

Hope this helps!
Thanks!

@voxl-phoenix J19 has pins for 2 UARTs. We put GNSS on one and RC on the other. So if you are able to hook up everything correctly, configure the TBS crossfire receiver correctly, and configure PX4 correctly then it should work.

Hi @Alex-Kushleyev ,
Thank you for your suggestion. Now I understood. how to use my existing stereo, and tracking cameras on voxel-2.

Sounds good @voxl-phoenix ! Goodluck - the VOXL2 is radically easier to interface with due to ubuntu 18.04 being the OS vs yocto so my recommendation is to migrate to that if you have the ability - if not, let me know how the mavsdk side of things goes!

Zach