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How Edge16 differs from EdgeTX

Edge16 is based on EdgeTX, but it is not a general-purpose all-radio EdgeTX distribution. Edge16 v1.0.0-alpha.1 is an experimental focused TX16S MK2/MK3 release with product scope, UI, battery-safety, performance, and verification changes layered on top of upstream EdgeTX.

[!NOTE] This page describes the Edge16 release delta relative to the tracked upstream EdgeTX main branch at release-prep time. This alpha is experimental: it has been maintainer-tested, but users should treat it carefully until it has wider field feedback. Some items may later be upstreamed, cherry-picked, or replaced by upstream EdgeTX equivalents.

Product scope and release policy

  • Edge16 supports only RadioMaster TX16S MK2 (tx16s) and TX16S MK3 (tx16smk3).
  • CI, nightly, release-draft, and firmware publishing workflows are constrained to TX16S MK2/MK3 artifacts.
  • Public docs and issue templates are trimmed to Edge16 support channels and GitHub-only community links.
  • Unsupported upstream radio docs remain archival source material, but are excluded from the published Edge16 docs navigation.

Battery monitor and guard

Edge16 adds a LiPo-aware battery monitor flow beyond standard EdgeTX telemetry display:

  • radio-level LiPo pack library with cell count and capacity;
  • per-model compatible pack selection;
  • telemetry-voltage matching against compatible packs;
  • startup/replug confirmation prompts;
  • confirmed-pack/session capacity baseline tracking;
  • runtime capacity and voltage alerts;
  • optional arming block until battery state is confirmed;
  • explicit empty telemetry-source and manual fallback handling;
  • UI access from radio setup, model setup, and home/status widgets.

Arming and control-path safety

  • MODEL_ARMED switch support with safety-critical idle/output gating.
  • Arming throttle-gate fixes and confirmation flow integration with battery guard.
  • Additional guards around channel counts, module frames, telemetry packet lengths, special functions, trainer overrides, and protocol edge cases.

Global top bar and status widgets

  • Radio-level top-bar setup rather than per-model-only status layout.
  • Top-bar widget move/reorder actions and focus fixes.
  • Compact TX16S status widgets, including time, volume, battery/status, RF/link, and model context refinements.
  • Top-bar setup navigation fixes, including return-key behavior.

TX16S UI/UX overhaul

  • Focused dashboard-style home screen.
  • Native widget card layout updates.
  • Model cards that expose more model context.
  • Larger touch targets in key flows.
  • Settings search/filter work.
  • Single-tier quick navigation/tab bar.
  • Swipe gesture navigation.
  • State indicators on settings cards.
  • Semantic color system.
  • Wheel-style date/time picker.
  • Keyboard and long-list lifecycle refactors for more deterministic interaction.

Rendering and performance

This is one of the biggest Edge16 differences. EdgeTX already runs on color radios, but Edge16 puts a lot of effort into making the TX16S screen feel calmer, quicker, and more polished.

What pilots should notice

  • Menus and pages should feel less hesitant when they open.
  • Touch, scrolling, and widget updates should feel more immediate.
  • The first time a screen uses a font or visual element, it is less likely to pause or stutter.
  • Status widgets can keep updating without making the whole interface feel overloaded.
  • The radio should feel more like a purpose-built modern touch device, not just a classic transmitter menu drawn on a color LCD.

What changed underneath

  • LVGL 9.5 integration work for the color-LCD UI — a newer screen engine for future UI polish.
  • Asynchronous LVGL/DMA2D LCD flush path for TX16S/TX16S MK3 — screen drawing can happen with less waiting in the main UI flow.
  • STM32 DMA2D configuration and simulator/native exclusions where hardware acceleration is unavailable.
  • TX16S LCD rotation DMA buffering optimization.
  • Font pre-decompression during boot splash to reduce first-use stutter.
  • Canvas-based rendering replacements in heavy widgets.
  • Pre-rendered color-editor gradients.
  • Telemetry mixer lock-latency reduction.

Reliability and hardening

  • Color-LCD UI lifecycle guardrails and fail-closed construction paths.
  • Allocation-failure handling for labels, windows, canvases, icons, bitmap buffers, Lua canvas/buffers, and layout widgets.
  • UI raw-LVGL escape-hatch checker and centralized live UI access boundaries.
  • Protocol/telemetry fuzz coverage and bounds checks for Crossfire, Ghost, PXX/PXX2, DSMP, Multi, HoTT, MLink, FlySky, FrSky, SBUS, PPM, and related paths.
  • Spektrum RF false-alarm fix.
  • USB MSC/SD-card/SDIO hardening and fail-stop recovery fixes.
  • Simulator crash fixes and sanitizer-found crash fixes.

Simulator, HIL, and developer tooling

  • Curated simulator default setup for TX16S work.
  • UI harness with screen summaries, screenshots, touch/key/rotary control, telemetry injection, battery voltage injection, switch sequences, audio history, and flow automation.
  • Battery monitor automation support in the UI harness.
  • Autonomous HIL PPM soak harness.
  • Pi/Serena/compile-check/check presets and safety-review tooling for repeatable firmware verification.
  • Additional static checks for UI escape hatches, repeated-if invariants, safe division, and firmware safety policies.

Companion and packaging presentation

  • Edge16 visible Companion/Simulator names, project links, issue links, and Linux desktop/AppImage labels.
  • Companion support is release-scoped to TX16S MK2/MK3 simulator/WASM modules.

Compatibility note

Edge16 v1.0.0-alpha.1 is the public alpha release label. Internal firmware/storage compatibility versioning remains upstream-compatible where it affects settings conversion, Companion capabilities, or YAML storage semantics. Do not change storage semver solely to match the public Edge16 tag without auditing conversion paths.