Ardupilot Gazebo Plugin & Models

Overview :

This is a fork of the work done by @SwiftGust and @khancyr for Ardupilot SITL integration with Gazebo Used in attempt to research model based control design techniques for precision tracking and landing on moving targets

Requirements :

Ubuntu Xenial (16.04 LTS) or Ubuntu Biotic (18.04)

ArduPilot with Build Environment Setup for Ubuntu:

http://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/building-setup-linux.html#building-setup-linux

Gazebo version 9.0 (Installation Instructions Below)

Getting Started :

How to Install :

Desktop ROS Kinetic Installation (Optional) :

BE SURE TO INSTALL AS ROS-KINETIC-DESKTOP, NOT FULL Full version will automatically install Gazebo 7 Install ROS without Gazebo installation, and then install Gazebo standalone

Follow instructions here: http://wiki.ros.org/kinetic/Installation/Ubuntu)

Install Gazebo 9 Standalone :

Follow instructions here: http://gazebosim.org/tutorials?tut=install_ubuntu

Install Development Files :

sudo apt-get install libgazebo9-dev

Setup Project :

git clone https://github.com/BAmercury/ardupilot_gazebo
cd ardupilot_gazebo
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j4
sudo make install

Environmental Variable Setup :

Edit the bashrc file:

pico ~/.bashrc

Add the following at the end of .bashrc file:

source /usr/share/gazebo/setup.sh

export GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH=~/Documents/ardupilot_gazebo/gazebo_models

export GAZEBO_RESOURCE_PATH=~/Documents/ardupilot_gazebo/gazebo_worlds:${GAZEBO_RESOURCE_PATH}

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/ardupilot/Tools/autotest
export PATH=/usr/lib/ccache:$PATH

How to Launch :

Open two terminal windows

Terminal 1: Launch Gazebo World

With Visualization :

For static target:

gazebo --verbose iris_irlock_demo.world

For moving target:

gazebo --verbose iris_irlock_rail_sim.world

Without Visualization :

For static target:

gzserver --verbose iris_irlock_demo.world

For moving target:

gzserver --verbose iris_irlock_rail_sim.world

Terminal 2: Launch Ardupilot SITL :

In your Ardupilot repo, navigate to:

Tools/autotest/

Then run the following:

python sim_vehicle.py -v ArduCopter -f gazebo-iris --console

Wait a few minutes and let the drone get a 3D fix before

Terminal 2: Optional Run with external GCS (Mission Planner) :

You can run the simulator and control from Mission Planner by amending the following argument to sim_vehicle.py:

--out=udpout:<IP Address of Machine Running GCS>:14550

See more at: https://ardupilot.github.io/MAVProxy/html/getting_started/starting.html

Log Files :

Go to your Ardupilot repository

Binary Logs will be located in:

/Tools/autotest/logs/

Iris Drone Parameter File :

Go to your Ardupilot repository

Params for the drone can be customed by editing the following file:

/Tools/autotest/default_params/gazebo-iris.parm

Gazebo Tuning and Development :

Located in the gazebo_worlds directory there are two world files:

- Static Target Simulation: iris_irlock_demo.world
- Moving Target Simulation: iris_irlocK_rail_sim.world

To debug the rail simulator you can use the:

- rail_sim.world

Which would launch the rail simulator and its plugin by itself

From these world files, you can access various parameters such as the following:

- update rate
- max step size
- camera configurations for Drone
- Wind

To access specfic parameters for a model itself (Drone or Rail Sim) you will have to navigate to the gazebo_models folder and edit the corresponding model sdf file:

For the drone there is a small tree of .sdf's to go through:

- iris_with_standoffs_demo
    - iris_with_standoffs
    - gimball_small_2d

For the rail sim you can edit:

- Moving Target: rail_system
- Static Target: iris_irlocK_demo.world

For model-level editing you can access properties such as:

- Collision hit boxes
- Sensors:
    - Noise
    - Placement
    - Update Rate
- Material Properties:
    - Friction
    - Inertia
    - Mass
    - Velocity/Accelerations