Introduction

MAVISS Drone in Lab

MAVISS (Modular Aerial Vehicle with Intelligent Sensor Systems) is a custom-built, modular, and highly adaptable aerial platform developed by the CVISS Lab for advanced inspection, mapping, and autonomous navigation applications.

Unlike commercial drones which impose strict limitations on payloads, sensor integration, and onboard processing, MAVISS has been designed from the ground up to offer full hardware and software flexibility. This freedom allows our team to integrate cutting-edge sensors, perception systems, and AI-based processing pipelines that are otherwise restricted in proprietary platforms.

Project Purpose

The MAVISS platform was conceived to meet the specific operational needs of Rogers Communication tower inspections — a task that demands:

  • High-resolution imaging at multiple distances and angles

  • Precise mapping of tower structures and surrounding terrain

  • Integration of emerging sensors such as the Robosense AC1 for 360° real-time perception

  • Autonomous navigation in GPS-challenged environments

  • Data collection for AI model training in asset inspection and anomaly detection

Why Build Our Own?

Our lab already operates multiple high-end drones; however, each comes with limitations:

To overcome these constraints, MAVISS provides:

  • Full ROS 2 integration for rapid development of perception and autonomy stacks

  • PX4-based flight control with full firmware customization

  • Jetson Orin NX companion computing for onboard AI inference

  • Modular mounting options for LiDAR, visual cameras, and other sensors

Key Features

  • Modular payload bays for fast swapping of sensors and equipment

  • Real-time perception and SLAM mapping capabilities

  • Fully autonomous navigation stack with obstacle avoidance

  • Support for cutting-edge sensors such as Robosense AC1 and Livox Mid-360

  • Flexible communication for live data streaming to the ground station

Vision

MAVISS aims to become a benchmark open-source aerial robotics platform for industrial inspection and research. By sharing our development process, hardware integration steps, and open-source software stack, we aim to empower researchers, hobbyists, and industry professionals to create drones tailored to their own unique missions.