Upgrading VOXL SDK
Table of contents
Do I Need to Upgrade?
All ModalAI drones and boards ship pre-flashed with a recent SDK release and all core services enabled. Upgrading is optional — but if you have had your hardware for a while, there is likely a newer SDK available with fixes and features worth loading.
To decide, compare the voxl-suite version you retrieved in the previous step against the recommended release for your hardware on the VOXL SDK Release Notes page.
Each SDK release is tested as a whole — system image and voxl-suite together — so the supported way to move to a new release, including patch releases, is a complete flash with the SDK installer as described below. Upgrading individual packages in place with apt is not a supported configuration.
Prerequisites
The installer runs on Ubuntu and requires Android Platform Tools (ADB and fastboot):
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot -y
adb version # verify ADB is installed
fastboot --version # verify fastboot is installed
If Ubuntu is not available, a highly experimental WSL2 option is documented here.
Download the SDK for Your Hardware
Each platform has its own SDK installer tarball — the voxl-suite software inside is the same, but the system image differs per platform. Downloads are hosted on the Protected Downloads Page:
| Platform | SDK tarball | Download |
|---|---|---|
| VOXL 2 (M0054) | voxl2_SDK_x.y.z.tar.gz | VOXL 2 Platform Releases |
| VOXL 2 Mini (M0104) | voxl2-mini_SDK_x.y.z.tar.gz | VOXL 2 Mini Platform Releases |
| VRX (R0001) | ubun2.0-multi_SDK_x.y.z.tar.gz | VRX Platform Releases |
| VOXL (M0006) / VOXL Flight (M0019) — EOL | see folder | VOXL 1 Platform Releases |
VOXL Flight contains the same compute hardware as VOXL, so both flash the same SDK. Not sure which release to pick? See Which SDK Should I Flash?
Flash the SDK
Flashing preserves everything in VOXL’s
/data/directory (sku.txt, calibration files, image snapshots, video recordings), but everything else — all services and config files — is reset to factory defaults.
1. Power up VOXL and connect via USB
Some computers have trouble with USB C to USB C cables. If you are having connection issues, try a USB C to USB A cable.
2. Extract and run the installer
Do NOT open a shell on VOXL. The following commands are all run on the host computer.
Extract the download (using VOXL 2 as the example, where x.y.z is the SDK version), enter the directory, and run the install script:
tar -xzvf voxl2_SDK_x.y.z.tar.gz
cd voxl2_SDK_x.y.z
./install.sh
Once you confirm the system image flash, DO NOT STOP IT! Interrupting the flash will likely corrupt the file system. If that happens, follow the unbricking guide.
Depending on the SDK version, you may be prompted to preserve or wipe the /data/ partition. When in doubt, preserve it — it contains calibration and factory configuration data that should carry over between SDK upgrades.
3. Verify the install
If everything flashed successfully, the installer prints:
=====================================================
| Done installing voxl-suite for QRB5165 |
| |
| Please visit our online guides at |
| https://docs.modalai.com/ |
| |
| To configure Modal Pipe Architecture (MPA) |
| services, please run voxl-configure-mpa |
| |
| To see what MPA services are enabled and running, |
| please run voxl-inspect-services |
| |
| To see a list of MPA utilities available, adb |
| or ssh into VOXL and type voxl{TAB}{TAB} |
=====================================================
The installer also walks you through reconfiguring your drone’s SKU and MPA services. If you saw these prompts during the flash, SKU and MPA are already configured and nothing further is needed:
To re-run configuration later — for example to load new ESC or ELRS firmware shipped with the release — use voxl-configure-mpa. For how config files are handled across upgrades, see the VOXL SDK Configuration Section.