The aim of this simulator is to
- provide a framework for control and dynamics simulation,
- focus on the rigid body attitude control problem,
- provide a nice way to visualize what's going on.
I used it on my thesis to test a global, robust, non-linear controller based on Lyapunov functions. This controller can to track any arbitrary desired orientation of the Quadrotor within a specified error bound, and the results provide a way to translate bounded measurement and navigation errors to final pointing accuracy errors, and also to obtain a bound on the tracking accuracy given the timestep used for the digital implementation of the continuous controller. If you want to find out more please have a look at my thesis!
##Blocks
The modular approach allows for customization of the different blocks:
a. Command Generation Block / Joystick Input
b. Controller Block
c. Rigid Body Dynamics (UAV model) Block
d. Navigation/Measurement Block
e. Visualization Block
Each block is implemented inside a standalone .m file that gets called from within simulink as a level-2 s-file. The name of the .m files is self explanatory (Quadrotor_Navigation.m, Quadrotor_Controller.m, etc.).
Global initialization is done with a callback hooked up on ModelInit, implemented through modelo2Initialization.m
##Visualization with Flightgear
The last block allows for Flightgear visualization, see Flightgear-QUADLSE-Model for a nice UAV model to use with Flightgear. Otherwise it's straightforward.
##Structure
Almost all functionality is implemented in separate .m files for easy tweaking.
- Load with simulink:
load_model('modelo2a.slx')...
2. Start Flightgear with arguments to listen for network connections:
./fgfs --fdm=network,localhost,5501,5502,5503 --fog-fastest --disable-clouds --in-air --enable-freeze --aircraft=QUADLSE ...
3. Fly
4. Tweak
5. goto 3