ModalAI

ModalAI is a San Diego company that builds flight controllers, onboard computers and drones. It says it spun out of Qualcomm in 2018 and makes most of its products in Southern California. The company says its hardware is designed and assembled in the United States and is NDAA compliant.

VOXL 2

VOXL 2 is a companion computer with a PX4 and ArduPilot flight controller built in. It runs on a Qualcomm QRB5165 chip. ModalAI lists 15 TOPS of onboard AI, five neural networks running at once, and 5G capability. The company says the flight controller supports obstacle avoidance and navigation without GPS.

The VOXL SDK comes in source code form. It works with PX4, ArduPilot, Docker, OpenCV and ROS. ModalAI says this lets teams add new AI models and sensors in software after a drone has shipped.

Reference drones and kits

• Stinger Vision FPV: an FPV reference drone that ModalAI lists as Blue UAS cleared.
• Seeker Vision FPV: a second Blue UAS cleared FPV drone.
• Starling 2 Max: a development drone for navigation without GPS, AI and flight work on small UAS.
• PX4 Autonomy Developer Kit: a kit for building autonomy with PX4.
• Qualcomm Flight RB5 5G platform: a 5G drone platform.

The company also lists Blue UAS Framework components and a VOXL 2 integration with Doodle Labs radios.

Who uses it

ModalAI says more than 1,000 partners build on VOXL. It names Cleo, XTEND and a University of Pennsylvania lab among its users. One case study describes Inspired Flight, a California drone maker, which moved its drones to a ModalAI PX4 flight controller after changes to US procurement rules. ModalAI says the move from first talks to first flight took three weeks.

ModalAI also lists a page on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance uses, and a manufacturer's safety statement. Its VOXL platform also supports FPV development, and the company describes its digital FPV video as designed and assembled in the USA.