UAV ROS Simulation

A collection of ROS packages for Gazebo simulations of Ardupilot / PX4 UAV platforms

UAV ROS Simulation build status

ROS Package	18.04	20.04
ardupilot_gazebo
ardupilot
rotors_simulator	N/A	N/A
mav_comm	N/A	N/A
larics_gazebo_worlds	N/A	N/A

Installation

TODO: These instructions need updating

Beginner

Follow these steps for a quick and easy start.

git clone https://github.com/larics/uav_ros_simulation
cd uav_ros_simulation/installation
./install_and_setup_workspace.sh
source ~/.bashrc

Advanced

Follow these installation steps if you have a catkin workspace already set up.

# Navigate to src folder of the catkin workspace
cd /path/to/catkin_ws/src

# Install uav_ros_stack
git clone https://github.com/larics/uav_ros_simulation
cd uav_ros_simulation
./installation/install.sh

# Export GAZEBO_PLUGIN_PATH
./installation/gazebo/setup_gazebo.sh /path/to/catkin_ws/build

# Build catkin workspace
catkin build

# Source ~/.basrhc or ~/.zshrc
source ~/.bashrc

Simulation Startup

UAV simulations are launched as tmuxinator sessions as follows.

cd uav_ros_simulation/startup/kopterworx_one_flying
./start.sh

To find out more about navigating the simulation environment please read HOWTO.md.

Flight Stack Development

Ready to start adding new and exciting features to this flight stack ?! Please check out DEVELOPMENT.md to find out how!

Fly with Docker

Try out a Docker image with the following commands:

# Install Docker
./installation/dependencies/docker.sh

# Run the newest uav_ros_simulation Noetic image
./run_docker.sh

Find out how to work in a Docker environment at HOWTO.md - Docker Commands. Prebuilt images for uav_ros_simulation found at DockerHub lmark1/uav_ros_simulation.

Troubleshooting

Getting new changes from Github

If you want to update uav_ros_simulation and all its dependencies please run the following commands:

git pull
gitman update --skip-changes
catkin build

~/.bashrc

Make sure the following lines or their equivalents are found at the end of your ~/.bashrc (or ~/.zshrc) file in any order after installataion:

source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash
source /root/uav_ws/devel/setup.bash
source /usr/share/gazebo/setup.sh

# shell configuration
source /uav_ros_simulation/ros_packages/uav_ros_stack/miscellaneous/shell_additions/shell_scripts.sh

# Ardupilot exports
export PATH=$PATH:/root/uav_ws/src/uav_ros_simulation/firmware/ardupilot/Tools/autotest
export PATH=/usr/lib/ccache:$PATH

# ardupilot_gazebo exports
export GAZEBO_PLUGIN_PATH=$GAZEBO_PLUGIN_PATH:/root/uav_ws/build/ardupilot_gazebo

NOTE: Lines should be automatically added. If some lines are missing please report an issue and add those lines manually.

Optional Dependencies

Depending on the simulation type additional ROS packages may need to be installed.

• velodyne_simulator - URDF description and Gazebo plugins to simulate Velodyne laser scanners
• gazebo_ros_magnet - This is a Gazebo model plugin that simulates a magnetic dipole-dipole model
• larics_gazebo_worlds - This package contains various worlds used in Gazebo simulations
• cartographer - A package for real-time simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)
• cartographer_ros - A package for SLAM that provides Cartographer's ROS integration