VOXL 2 Mini embedded mission computer

The VOXL 2 Mini is an embedded mission computer from ModalAI that combines a companion computer and an integrated flight controller on a board of 42 x 42 mm. It is built on the Qualcomm QRB5165 processor and is intended for small drones and ground robots that need onboard autonomy, perception and artificial intelligence processing at very low mass.

The board runs the VOXL SDK, which includes GPS-denied navigation, visual inertial odometry, SLAM, obstacle avoidance and object recognition. The flight controller is embedded and runs on the sensors DSP of the processor, with two TDK ICM-42688-P IMUs and an ICP-10100 barometer on the board. ROS 1, ROS 2, OpenCV and Docker build environments are supported, and the ground station software QGroundControl and ATAK are listed as supported. The SDK is available as source code, so integrators can adapt the software to their application.

The key figures are the processor, with eight cores at up to 3.091 GHz, 8 GB of LPDDR5 memory and 128 GB of flash storage. The Adreno 650 GPU and the neural processing unit, rated at 15 TOPS, accelerate TensorFlow Lite models, which matters for onboard object detection and depth estimation without a data link to the ground. The video encoder handles 8K at 30 frames per second in H.264 and H.265, and still images of 64 MP. Power consumption ranges from 0.5 W to 8 W, and the mass is 11 g, a figure that makes the board suitable for vehicles where every gram of payload counts.

For integration, the board has four concurrent MIPI camera inputs, which can carry up to five image sensors, including a time-of-flight sensor, and a USB 3 port. Wi-Fi, 4G/LTE, 5G and Microhard modems are connected through the USB port as add-ons, and FLIR Boson and Lepton thermal cameras are supported over USB. The mounting uses the 30.5 x 30.5 mm industry-standard pattern. The VOXL Mini 4-in-1 ESC in its 3.8 V version powers the board directly, and external carrier boards add time-of-flight and other off-board sensor ports. The board itself carries no radio, as radio frequencies come only from the optional modems.

Regarding compliance, the maker lists conformity with NDAA Section 848 and assembly in the USA, and the product is RoHS compliant. It is classified EAR99.

Typical applications are small autonomous drones for indoor and outdoor inspection, delivery, ISR and FPV platforms, research vehicles and robots that need GPS-denied navigation.