UAV HITL Simulator

UAV HITL Simulator brings up a set of ROS packages, config files and instructions to establish a full simulation for UAV based on PX4/Ardupilot autopilot.

The key feature of this simulation is to run it in such a way that the hardware knows nothing about the simulation. This can be done with Cyphal/DroneCAN. It covers more PX4 modules than standard SITL and HITL.

Purpose

• Simulation of UAV onboard systems at a low hardware level
• Testing and debugging of UAV control systems using a CAN-bus
• Development and testing of intelligent automatic control systems for UAVs
• Training in the development and use of drones, including creating datasets and automated testing

Requirements

• Operating System: We've tailored the simulator for modern versions of Windows, Linux, and Mac. Choose the build that matches your OS.

• CPU: Aim for an Intel i7 from the 11th or 12th generation. For those using AMD, any equivalent processor will suffice.

• RAM: 16GB is a recommended minimum, but more is always better for performance.

• Hardware: CUAV V5+, CAN-sniffer

1. Design

VTOL HITL Dynamics Simulator is designed to be modular. It is divided into the following main components:

1. UAV dynamics is the main node that handles actuator commands from the communicator, performs dynamics simulation, and publishes vehicle and sensors states.
2. Communicator is the set of nodes that communicate with the PX4 flight stack in HITL (via Cyphal/DroneCAN) and SITL (via MAVLink) modes.
3. inno_sim_interface is a bridge for interaction with 3D-Simulator through ROS.

The design of the simulator is shown below.

2. Usage

The simulator is distributed as a Docker image. It is recommended to use the ./scripts/docker.sh script. It configures all the necessary Docker flags, performs automatic firmware upload, configuration, creates a CAN interface, and generally provides a simple interface to interact with the simulator.

Step 1. Clone repository with submodules

git clone https://github.com/ZilantRobotics/innopolis_vtol_dynamics.git --recursive

Whenever you pull this repository, don't forget to update submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Step 2. Build/pull the docker image

To build docker image, type:

./scripts/docker.sh build

An image on dockerhub usually is not up to date, so it's better to build manually

Step 3. Connect everything together for HITL

You should skip this step if you want to run PX4 MAVLink SITL mode. Please follow docs/px4/mavlink for details.

Typically we use CUAV v5+ and RL-programmer-sniffer, but it might be anything else.

An example of a connection is shown in the picture below.

All default parameters expect that you use CAN1 on the autopilot side.

Step 4. Run the container in force mode

In --force mode the script automatically upload the required firmware and parameters corresponded to the specified mode, create SLCAN and run the container with required docker flags.

To run force mode you need to install autopilot-tools python package: pip install autopilot-tools.

To get the list of all supported modes, just type:

./scripts/docker.sh --help

To run PX4 Cyphal quadcopter, type:

./scripts/docker.sh cq  # cq = px4_v1_15_0_cyphal_quadcopter

To run PX4 Dronecan VTOL, type:

./scripts/docker.sh dv  # cq = dronecan_vtol

Troubleshooting:

• If your sniffer connection is not found or something else is missing, it will exit in a few seconds.

If something doesn't work, please open an issue.

Step 5. Run ground control station

Here 2 options are suggested.

1. You can run QGroundControl or MissionPlanner to have manual flight
2. (soon) You can run a script to run one of the test scenario in automatic mode.

Step 6. (optional) 3D Simulator

A new 3D simulator will appear here soon.

3. Supported modes

You can obrain the actual list of the suported modes by typing ./scripts/docker.sh --help.

Well, here is the output of the command:

Primary supported modes (with aliases):
  px4_v1_15_0_cyphal_quadcopter,cq       | Cyphal     PX4 v1.15-alpha Quadrotor x (4001)
  px4_v1_15_0_cyphal_quadplane_vtol,csv  | Cyphal     PX4 v1.15-alpha Standard VTOL (13000)
  px4_v1_14_0_dronecan_quadrotor,dq      | DroneCAN   PX4 v1.14-beta  Quadrotor (4001)
  px4_v1_14_0_dronecan_quadplane_vtol,dv | DroneCAN   PX4 v1.14-beta  Standard VTOL (13000)
  px4_v1_13_0_dronecan_vtol,dv1130       | DroneCAN   PX4 v1.13.0     vtol 13070

Other modes:
  sitl_inno_vtol                        | MAVLink     PX4 v1.12       vtol 13070
  sitl_flight_goggles                   | MAVLink     PX4 v1.12       Quadrotor (4001)
  cyphal_and_dronecan                   | 2 CAN       AP  v4.4.0      Copter
  px4_v1_15_0_cyphal_octorotor,co       | Cyphal      PX4 v1.15-alpha Octorotor Coaxial (12001)

New modes will be extended step by step.

4. Example

Check the video below.

5. Auxilliary documentation

Docs:

• Developer docs
• PX4 MAVLink SITL manual configuration instructions

Outdated manual instructions:

• PX4 Cyphal manual configuration instructions
• PX4 DroneCAN manual configuration instructions
• ArduPilot manual configuration instructions