# 1. First-Time Setup Guide

The most frequently recurring class of support ticket is a new user hitting a preventable blocker within the first hour of unboxing. Every item below belongs in a prominent Quick-Start or First-Time Setup page.

***

### 1.1 Power Cabling

The DCS kit ships without soldered power cables. Before you can power the board from a battery or lab supply you must prepare your own cable.

* Recommended connector: XT60 (or TX60) for VDD MAIN
* Solder the cable to the VDD MAIN pads on the top side of DCS2.PDB\_Default (right-hand side of the board — see connector-orientation diagram in the PDB docs)
* For bench development, connect a lab power supply set to 9–26 V at the same VDD MAIN pads
* The DCS2 default PDB is rated to approximately 50 A on the main input at up to 26.5 V

***

### 1.2 Power-On Procedure

If using the DCS2.PDB\_Default:

* Connect your power source to VDD MAIN
* Press and hold the power button on the PDB for several seconds until the system begins to boot
* The EXT.BTN connector on the PDB accepts an external button or switch — wire to this to avoid reaching into the airframe

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:**

CONTROL connector signals (MOD\_SLEEP, FORCE\_RECOVERY, SLEEP/WAKE) on the Pilot board are for Orin-level control only and are separate from EXT.BTN. They can be left floating in normal operation. EXT.BTN switches all PDB power rails except the MCU supply rail.
{% endhint %}

***

### 1.3 Cube Autopilot — Firmware Required

{% hint style="warning" %}
**IMPORTANT:**

The CubePilot Cube Orange / Cube Orange+ ships from Airvolute WITHOUT ArduPilot firmware pre-loaded. A Cube with no firmware blinks its orange LED continuously and will not appear as a serial device on any host.
{% endhint %}

To flash firmware for the first time:

1. SSH into the Jetson (default: ssh dcs\_user\@192.168.55.1 when connected over dev USB)
2. Switch the USB bus from Jetson to the Cube:

```
sudo uhubctl -a off -p 6
```

3. Connect the Cube's micro-USB port directly to your PC. Open Mission Planner or QGroundControl and flash the desired ArduCopter / ArduPlane release. No Airvolute-specific firmware build is required for standard configurations.
4. After flashing, set SERIAL2\_BAUD = 921600 in ArduPilot parameters (default is 57600).

***

### 1.4 MAVLink — Connecting to a GCS

mavlink-router is the recommended way to forward MAVLink from the Cube to a ground station. It is NOT installed by default.

```
# Install mavlink-router
sudo apt-get install mavlink-router
 
# Edit configuration
sudo nano /etc/mavlink-router/main.conf
```

Recommended main.conf for dev-USB connection (GCS on 192.168.55.100):

```
[General]
DebugLogLevel = info
TcpServerPort = 0
 
[UartEndpoint cube]
Device = /dev/ttyTHS0
Baud = 921600
 
[UdpEndpoint GCS]
Mode = Normal
Address = 192.168.55.100
Port = 14550
```

If connecting over Wi-Fi or Ethernet, change the GCS Address to your host IP. For broadcast to any address on the subnet, use the subnet broadcast address (e.g. 10.223.255.255).

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:**

The av-mavlink-configuration package (service av-mavlink-configuration.service) runs on boot and writes MAVLink stream-rate parameters to the Cube. If you need to customise stream rates, edit /etc/av-mavlink-configuration/config.yaml rather than changing parameters via a GCS — GCS connections may also reset stream rates depending on QGC's 'All stream rates controlled by vehicle' setting.
{% endhint %}


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