Open by Design: MOSA for Small Drones
Open by Design
MOSA, the Modular Open Systems Approach, is a Department of Defense priority because it prevents vendor lock-in, lowers lifecycle cost and speeds upgrades. At ModalAI it is not a feature we added. It is how we have built from day one: put the most capable autonomy stack in the smallest, lightest package, and make it open so others can build on it.
What Is Open
| Layer | What you get |
|---|---|
| Autonomy software | The entire VOXL SDK is available in source code form at code.modalai.com. Inspect, modify and extend every layer. |
| Flight control | PX4 or ArduPilot, running on the sensors DSP of VOXL 2 and VOXL 2 Mini |
| Interfaces | Open standards: ROS, MAVLink and MAVSDK |
| Documentation | Public at docs.modalai.com |
| Support | An engineer-staffed public developer forum |
| Community | A Dronecode Foundation member since 2019 |
One Common Core
Autopilots, development drones and Blue UAS aircraft share the same stack. Starling 2 Max flies on VOXL 2; Stinger Vision FPV, on the Blue UAS Cleared Select list, flies on VOXL 2 Mini. Work done on a development drone carries over to fielded aircraft, and one SDK update reaches all of them. That is what makes software maneuverability possible.
Start on ModalAI, Finish on Your Own Design
Leading U.S. defense research laboratories and national labs use ModalAI drones to build their advanced capabilities. They start on a ModalAI drone, develop on an open and programmable platform, and transition to their own designs on the same modular core. No lock-in, no rewrite.
More than 1,000 partners have built on VOXL. A few of their stories:
- Cleo Robotics powers its Dronut with VOXL.
- XTEND builds human-machine teaming on VOXL 2.
- Inspired Flight flies ModalAI flight controllers.
- The University of Pennsylvania flies a VOXL-powered drone swarm.
Why Open Matters Beyond One Company
The United States needs trusted drones in volumes no single vendor can build. An open foundation lets many U.S. manufacturers build on the same trusted core at once, instead of one supplier becoming the bottleneck. Openness is how an industry scales, not just how one company does.
How to Evaluate "Open"
Many vendors now describe their drones as MOSA-aligned. Five questions separate an open system from an open claim:
- Is the source code available, or only an API on top of a closed core?
- Can you change the autonomy stack yourself, or do changes wait on the vendor?
- Does it speak open standards such as PX4, ArduPilot, ROS and MAVLink?
- Is there one common core across board sizes and aircraft, so work carries over?
- Is the documentation public, and do engineers answer questions in the open?
VOXL 2 was the founding autopilot of the Blue UAS Framework 2.0, and everything we build is designed and assembled in the USA. Talk to our team about building on VOXL.