Cubs2 - Fixed-Wing Aircraft Simulation and Control

A ROS2 Jazzy monorepo for simulating and controlling fixed-wing aircraft using the SportCub aircraft model. This workspace provides complete simulation, visualization, planning, and control capabilities for autonomous fixed-wing aircraft.

📚 Full Documentation | Installation Guide | Quick Start

Packages

cubs2_msgs

Message definitions for aircraft control and telemetry.

• AircraftControl.msg - Normalized control inputs (aileron, elevator, rudder, throttle)

cubs2_description

Aircraft description files: URDF models and 3D meshes for the SportCub.

racecourse_description

Racecourse configurations: gate and pylon definitions in YAML format, visualization markers.

cubs2_data

Data files including rosbag recordings and reference flight data.

cubs2_dynamics

Aircraft dynamics modeling and analysis tools using CasADi.

• Differentiable dynamics models
• Linearization and trim analysis
• Numerical integration

cubs2_control

Control algorithms for aircraft (used in simulation and hardware).

• Autolevel attitude stabilization controller
• Closed-loop system composition (aircraft + controller)
• PID controller implementation
• Reusable across simulation and real hardware

cubs2_simulation

Simulation nodes and runtime.

• SportCub simulation node
• Gamepad/keyboard control interfaces
• TF broadcasting

cubs2_planning

Path planning algorithms for autonomous flight.

• Dubins path planner for racecourse navigation
• Waypoint gate management

cubs2_rviz

Custom RViz panel plugins:

• Virtual joystick for manual control
• Simulation control (reset, pause, speed)
• HUD for telemetry display

cubs2_bringup

Launch files for starting complete systems (simulation, visualization, planning).

Quick Start

# Build workspace
cd /path/to/your/workspace
colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

# Launch simulation with visualization (all-in-one)
ros2 launch cubs2_bringup sim.xml

This single command starts simulation, visualization, and replay by default.

Launch Options

Customize the launch with optional arguments:

# Disable visualization
ros2 launch cubs2_bringup sim.xml viz:=false

# Disable replay
ros2 launch cubs2_bringup sim.xml replay:=false

# Enable gamepad control
ros2 launch cubs2_bringup sim.xml gamepad:=true

# Launch only specific components
ros2 launch cubs2_bringup viz.xml        # Visualization only
ros2 launch cubs2_bringup gamepad_control.xml  # Gamepad only

Replay Mode

Replay is enabled by default, showing a "ghost" plane following recorded flight data. The replay loops continuously for easy comparison with live simulation.

# Use different bag file
ros2 launch cubs2_bringup sim.xml bag_path:=/path/to/your/bag.mcap

Topics

Topic	Type	Description
/control	cubs2_msgs/AircraftControl	Control inputs to aircraft
/pose	geometry_msgs/PoseStamped	Aircraft pose
/imu	sensor_msgs/Imu	IMU data from simulation
/racecourse/gates	visualization_msgs/MarkerArray	Racecourse gate markers

Dependencies

• ROS2 Jazzy
• Python 3.12+
• NumPy
• CasADi (for dynamics modeling)
• Qt5 (for RViz panels)

Development

Building and Testing

# Build all packages
colcon build --symlink-install

# Run tests and linting (standard ROS 2 approach)
colcon test
colcon test-result --verbose

# Run tests for specific packages
colcon test --packages-select cubs2_dynamics cubs2_control

Code Quality and Linting

This project follows standard ROS 2 linting practices using ament tools:

Python linting (ament_flake8, ament_pep257):

• Automatically checked via colcon test
• Style: PEP 8 with 99-character line limit
• Docstrings: NumPy-style (PEP 257 compliant)

C++ linting (ament_cpplint, ament_uncrustify):

• Automatically checked via colcon test
• Style: ROS 2 C++ style guide

All linters configured in package.xml:

• ament_copyright - License header validation
• ament_flake8 - Python style checking
• ament_pep257 - Python docstring validation
• ament_cpplint - C++ style checking
• ament_uncrustify - C++ code formatting
• ament_lint_cmake - CMake linting
• ament_xmllint - XML validation

Run linters separately:

# Check Python code style
ament_flake8 src/cubs2/cubs2_dynamics

# Check Python docstrings
ament_pep257 src/cubs2/cubs2_dynamics

# Check C++ code
ament_cpplint src/cubs2/cubs2_rviz

Features

• Hierarchical Model Composition: Compose aircraft dynamics and controllers into integrated systems
• Type-Safe Modeling: Structured state/input/output access with dataclasses
• Single Integration Loop: Numerically accurate unified integration of all subsystems
• Dubins Path Planning: Optimal path generation through waypoint gates
• Physics-Based Simulation: CasADi-based differentiable dynamics
• RViz Integration: 3D visualization with custom panels
• Configurable Racecourses: YAML-based gate definitions
• Replay Support: Compare simulation with recorded flights

Package Documentation

Each package has detailed documentation in its own README:

• cubs2_msgs - Message definitions
• cubs2_description - Aircraft URDF and meshes
• cubs2_data - Rosbag data files
• cubs2_dynamics - Dynamics modeling
• cubs2_control - Control algorithms
• cubs2_simulation - Simulation runtime
• cubs2_planning - Path planning
• cubs2_rviz - RViz plugins
• cubs2_bringup - Launch files
• racecourse_description - Racecourse configuration

License

Apache-2.0