SpikingPIDRos

These steps assume you have already installed ROS Melodic and sourced your environment on a machine running Linux Ubuntu 18.04 OS. If that is not the case, please follow the instructions on http://wiki.ros.org/melodic/Installation/Ubuntu It is also expected that a version of Anaconda/Miniconda is installed on the machine.

Steps:

• create a conda environment and install necessary python packages

conda create --name npid python=3.6
conda activate npid

TODO: CREATE TXT WITH PYTHON PACKAGES AND ADD

• Follow the instructions for installing RotorS in a new workspace and the RotorS simulator (https://github.com/ethz-asl/rotors_simulator) Remember to exchange the ROS version for melodic everywhere.

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-latest.list'
sudo apt install curl # if you haven't already installed curl
curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ros/rosdistro/master/ros.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ros-melodic-desktop-full ros-melodic-joy ros-melodic-octomap-ros ros-melodic-mavlink python-wstool python-catkin-tools protobuf-compiler libgoogle-glog-dev ros-melodic-control-toolbox ros-melodic-mavros python-rosdep python-rosinstall python-rosinstall-generator build-essential

sudo rosdep init
rosdep update

echo "source /opt/ros/melodic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

export ROS_PYTHON_VERSION=3

Following might be necessary:

pip install empy

TODO: PROBABLY SOME PYTHON THINGS HERE THAT NEED TO BE DONE AS WELL

• clone this repository and copy the files in the folder /src/ to the /src/ folder in your catkin workspace:

git clone https://github.com/sstroobants/SpikingPIDRos.git
cp SpikingPIDRos/src/ ~/catkin_ws/src/

• Make python files in spiking_pid executable:

cd ~/catkin_ws/src/spiking_pid/scripts
chmod +x gazebo_position_controller.py optitrack_node.py waypoint_node.py inav_height_controller_cyberzoo_loihi.py inav_position_controller_cyberzoo.py run_simulation_tests.py

• build all ROS packages

catkin build
SOURCE DEVEL

Simulation

Changing simulation parameters

• The update frequency of the simulation can be set in ~/catkin_ws/src/rotors_simulator/rotors_gazebo/worlds/basic.world by changing the max_step_size and real_time_factor. By changing the real_time_update_rate to 0, the simulation will run as fast as possible.

• the precision of the N-PID for simulation can be set by changing the precision parameter in the controller_gazebo_height.launch launch-file. Here also other parameters considering the quadrotor can be changed, such as the PID gains.

Run simulation

• Start a roscore

roscore

• Start Gazebo and spawn a hummingbird quadrotor

roslaunch spiking_pid start_simulation.launch

• Start the controller node, first resetting the quadrotor and then going to the setpoint published to /waypoints

roslaunch spiking_pid controller_gazebo_height.launch

Multiple runs

To do multiple runs for different heights, the run_simulation_tests.py file can be used. In this file, the amount of runs and a list of heights can be given.

License

The RotorS Simulator and the MSF framework are both licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. In the RotorS Simulator, only two minor changes have been made: The rate in basic.world has been changed and a generic sensor for the hummingbird has been added. The MSF Framework has not been changed.