ModalAI VOXL Flight

:::warning PX4 does not manufacture this (or any) autopilot. Contact the manufacturer for hardware support or compliance issues. :::

The ModalAI VOXL Flight (Datasheet) is one of the first computing platforms to combine the power and sophistication of Snapdragon with the flexibility and ease of use of PX4 on an STM32F7. Made in the USA, VOXL Flight supports obstacle avoidance and GPS-denied (indoor) navigation fused with a PX4 flight controller on a single PCB.

VOXL-Flight

:::note This flight controller is manufacturer supported. :::

Specifications

System

Feature	Details
Weight	26 g

Companion Computer

Feature	Details
Base Operation System	Linux Yocto Jethro with 3.18 kernel. Additional Linux Operating Systems can be used by running Docker on VOXL, details here
Compute	Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 w/ 4GB LPDDR4 1866MHz, Snapdragon 821 Datasheet, Docs
CPU	Quad-core CPU up to 2.15GHz
GPU	Adreno 530 GPU at 624MHz
Compute DSP	Hexagon compute DSP (cDSP) 825MHz
Sensor DSP	Hexagon sensor DSP (sDSP) 700MHz
Video	4k30 Video Capture h.264/5 w/ 720p FPV
Camera Interfaces	Support for MIPI-CSI2, USB UVC, HDMI
Wi-Fi	Pre-certified Wi-Fi module QCNFA324 FCC ID:PPD-QCNFA324, QCA6174A modem, 802.11ac 2x2 Dual-band, Bluetooth 4.2 (dual-mode)
4G LTE	Optional add-on module
Microhard pDDL	Optional add-on module
GNSS	WGR7640 10Hz
I/O	1x USB3.0 OTG (ADB port), 1x USB2.0 (expansion port), 2x UART, 3x I2C, additional GPIO and SPI can be configured
Storage	32GB (UFS 2.0), Micro SD Card
Software	Docker, OpenCV 2.4.11, 3.4.6, 4.2, ROS Indigo, Qualcomm Machine Vision SDK, see GitLab for lots of open source examples!
IMUs	ICM-42688 (SPI10), ICM-20948 (SPI1)
Barometer	BMP280

Flight Controller

Feature	Details
MCU	216MHz, 32-bit ARM M7 STM32F765II
Memory	256Kb FRAM
	2Mbit Flash
	512Kbit SRAM
Firmware	PX4
IMUs	ICM-20602 (SPI1)
	ICM-42688 (SPI2)
	BMI088 (SPI6)
Barometer	BMP388 (I2C4)
Secure Element	A71CH (I2C4)
microSD Card	Information on supported cards
Inputs	GPS/Mag
	Spektrum
	Telemetry
	CAN bus
	PPM
Outputs	6 LEDs (2xRGB)
	8 PWM Channels
Extra Interfaces	3 serial ports
	I2C
	GPIO

:::note More detailed hardware documentation can be found here. :::

Dimensions

FlightCoreV1Dimensions

3D STEP File

PX4 Firmware Compatibility

VOXL Flight is fully compatible with the official PX4 Firmware from PX4 v1.11.

ModalAI maintains a branched PX4 version for PX4 v1.11. This includes UART ESC support and improvements in VIO and VOA that are planned to be upstreamed.

More information about the firmware can be found here.

QGroundControl Support

This board supported in QGroundControl 4.0 and later.

Availability

• VOXL Flight Complete Kit

• VOXL Flight Board (only)

• VOXL Flight integrated with Obstacle Avoidance Cameras (VOXL Flight Deck) (Datasheet)

• VOXL Flight in a ready to fly VOXL m500 Development Drone (Datasheet)

Quick Start

A quickstart from the vendor is located here.

voxl-vision-px4

The VOXL Flight runs voxl-vision-px4 on the companion computer portion of the hardware serving as a sort of MAVLink proxy. For details, the source code is available here

Connectors

Detailed information about the pinouts can be found here.

Top

VOXLFlightTop

Note: 1000 Series connectors accessible from the STM32/PX4

Connector	Summary	Used By
J2	Hires 4k Image Sensor (CSI0)	Snapdragon - Linux
J3	Stereo Image Sensor (CSI1)	Snapdragon - Linux
J6	Cooling Fan Connector	Snapdragon - Linux
J7	BLSP6 (GPIO) and BLSP9 (UART)	Snapdragon - Linux
J13	Expansion B2B	Snapdragon - Linux
J14	Integrated GNSS Antenna Connection	Snapdragon - Linux
J1001	Programming and Debug/UART3	STM32 - PX4
J1002	UART ESC, UART2/TELEM3	STM32 - PX4
J1003	PPM RC In	STM32 - PX4
J1004	RC Input, Spektrum/SBus/UART6	STM32 - PX4
J1006	USB 2.0 Connector (PX4/QGroundControl)	STM32 - PX4
J1007	8-Channel PWM/DShot Output	STM32 - PX4
J1008	CAN Bus	STM32 - PX4
J1009	I2C3, UART4	STM32 - PX4
J1010	Telemetry (TELEM1)	STM32 - PX4
J1011	I2C2, Safety Button Input	STM32 - PX4
J1012	External GPS & Mag, UART1, I2C1	STM32 - PX4
J1013	Power Input, I2C3	STM32 - PX4 (powers whole system)

Bottom

VOXLFlightBottom

Note: 1000 Series connectors accessible from the STM32/PX4

Connector	Summary	Used By
J4	Tracking/Optic Flow Image Sensor (CSI2)	Snapdragon - Linux
J8	USB 3.0 OTG	Snapdragon - Linux, adb
J10	BLSP7 UART and I2C off-board	Snapdragon - Linux
J11	BLSP12 UART and I2C off-board	Snapdragon - Linux
VOXL microSD		Snapdragon - Linux
PX4 microSD	32Gb Max	STM32 - PX4
Wi-Fi Antennas	Included	Snapdragon - Linux

User Guide

The full user guide is available here.

How to Build

To build PX4 for this target:

make modalai_fc-v1

Serial Port Mapping

Note: mappings shown are for the PX4 controlled interfaces only

UART	Device	Port
USART1	/dev/ttyS0	GPS1 (J1012)
USART2	/dev/ttyS1	TELEM3 (J1002)
USART3	/dev/ttyS2	Debug Console (J1001)
UART4	/dev/ttyS3	Expansion UART (J6)
UART5	/dev/ttyS4	UART between PX4 and Companion Computer
USART6	/dev/ttyS5	RC (J1004)
UART7	/dev/ttyS6	TELEM1 (J1010)
UART8	/dev/ttyS7	N/A

Support

Please visit the ModalAI Forum for more information.