Ascend Engineering, a leading software engineering consultancy firm serving the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) industry, has written a comprehensive software package that integrates the power of ROS2 (Robot Operating System 2) with the VOXL 2 platform from ModalAI.
This integration provides government and commercial drone operators with a state-of-the-art solution to take their operations to new heights.
The Ascend Engineering ROS2 code on the VOXL 2-SDK package contains two components:
- Conversion of data pipelines from the Modal Pipe Architecture (MPA) to ROS2-based messages, enabling the seamless integration of sensor data to be accessed in the ROS2 environment, such as:
- TOF point cloud data
- IMU data
- 6DOF & 4DOF
- VIO odometry data
- Camera frames (including h265 encoded frames)
- Integration of the microDDS agent and client, allowing users to control drones running the PX4 autopilot directly from the ROS2 ecosystem, with the ability to send setpoint data to the flight controller directly over a ROS2 topic.
The Ascend Engineering team has leveraged their deep expertise in embedded software engineering and the ROS2 framework to create a robust and efficient solution. By converting MPA data pipelines to ROS2 messages, the package ensures that operators can leverage the powerful tools and libraries available within the ROS2 ecosystem, unlocking new possibilities for data processing, visualization, and control.
Ascend Engineering is a specialist software engineering consultancy with a proven track record of delivering innovative solutions to the unmanned industry. The company has been at the forefront of developing cutting-edge technologies to enhance the capabilities of UAVs and their supporting systems.
