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Gazebo Simulation

Gazebo is a 3D simulation environment for autonomous robots. It supports standalone use (without ROS) or SITL + ROS.

{% youtube %}https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfFF9-0k4KA&vq=hd720{% endyoutube %}

{% mermaid %} graph LR; Gazebo-->Plugin; Plugin-->MAVLink; MAVLink-->SITL; {% endmermaid %}

Installation

The installation requires to install Gazebo and our simulation plugin.

** Note ** Gazebo version 7 is recommended (the minimum version is Gazebo 6). If you run Linux and installed a ROS version earlier than Jade, be sure to uninstall the bundled Gazebo (sudo apt-get remove ros-indigo-gazebo) version as it is too old.

Mac OS

Mac OS requires Gazebo 7 which in turn requires xquartz and doesn't run without OpenCV.

brew cask install xquartz
brew install homebrew/science/opencv
brew install gazebo7

Linux

The PX4 SITL uses the Gazebo simulator, but does not depend on ROS. The simulation can be interfaced to ROS the same way as normal flight code is.

ROS Users

If you plan to use PX4 with ROS, make sure to follow the Gazebo version guide for version 7 for ROS.

Normal Installation

Follow the Linux installation instructions for Gazebo 7.

Running the Simulation

From within the source directory of the PX4 Firmware run the PX4 SITL with one of the airframes (Quads, planes and VTOL are supported, including optical flow):

Quadrotor

cd ~/src/Firmware
make posix_sitl_default gazebo

Quadrotor with Optical Flow

cd ~/src/Firmware
make posix gazebo_iris_opt_flow

Standard VTOL

cd ~/src/Firmware
make posix_sitl_default gazebo_standard_vtol

Tailsitter VTOL

cd ~/src/Firmware
make posix_sitl_default gazebo_tailsitter

** Note ** Please refer to the Installing Files and Code guide in case you run into any errors.

This will bring up the PX4 shell:

[init] shell id: 140735313310464
[init] task name: px4

______  __   __    ___
| ___ \ \ \ / /   /   |
| |_/ /  \ V /   / /| |
|  __/   /   \  / /_| |
| |     / /^\ \ \___  |
\_|     \/   \/     |_/

px4 starting.


pxh>

** Note ** Right-clicking the quadrotor model allows to enable follow mode from the context menu, which is handy to keep it in view.

Taking it to the Sky

The system will print the home position once it finished intializing (telem> home: 55.7533950, 37.6254270, -0.00). You can bring it into the air by typing:

pxh> commander takeoff

** Note ** Joystick or thumb-joystick support is available through QGroundControl (QGC). To use manual input, put the system in a manual flight mode (e.g. POSCTL, position control). Enable the thumb joystick from the QGC preferences menu.

Extending and Customizing

To extend or customize the simulation interface, edit the files in the Tools/sitl_gazebo folder. The code is available on the sitl_gazebo repository on Github.

** Note ** The build system enforces the correct GIT submodules, including the simulator. It will not overwrite changes in files in the directory.

Interfacing to ROS

The simulation can be interfaced to ROS the same way as onboard a real vehicle.