drone-mavros

File that runs onboard the drone, connects to and communicates with the ISAACS server

Setup

Drone and Simulation Computer Instructions

1. Please install ROS by following this link. We recommend installing the option with Gazebo at this stage (desktop full).

2. Install Dependencies: geographiclib, mavlink, roslibpy

   sudo apt-get install geographiclib-* ros-melodic-geographic-*  
   sudo apt-get install ros-melodic-mavlink
   sudo apt-get install libgeographic-dev ros-melodic-geographic-msgs
   pip install roslibpy
   

3. Clone this repository by running: git clone https://github.com/immersive-command-system/drone-mavros.git --recursive.

4. Once in the directory of the repository (drone-mavros), run catkin build

Simulation Installation Instructions

Any repositories downloaded can be placed independently of the rest.

1. Install the desired firmware SITL (Software-In-The-Loop). The two available options are PX4 or ArduPilot.

   1. For ArduPilot, run the following: git clone https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot.git Change directory into ardupilot via cd ardupilot. Run git submodule update --init --recursive. From inside the ardupilot directory, run Tools/environment_install/install-prereqs-ubuntu.sh -y. Finally, run . ~/.profile. For more information, visit https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/building-setup-linux.html#building-setup-linux.

   2. For PX4, run the following: git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive. Change directory into PX4-Ardupilot via cd PX4-Ardupilot. Run bash ./Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh. For more information, visit https://docs.px4.io/master/en/dev_setup/dev_env_linux_ubuntu.html.

2. If you have not yet installed Gazebo, please install Gazebo by following this link

3. Download https://github.com/SwiftGust/ardupilot_gazebo and follow installation instructions on that README.

Usage

Instructions for Running Simulation

These steps must be completed before running ROS if the simulator is to be used.

1. Launch Gazebo with ArduPilot Plugin.

   1. Run gazebo and the corresponding .world file. Ex: gazebo --verbose typhoon_ardupilot.world. The .world file is found in the worlds folder of the ardupilot_gazebo repo that was downloaded previously.

2. Launch the desired firmware SITL.

   1. For ArduPilot, change directory into ardupilot/Tools/autotest. To start the firmware SITL, run python sim_vehicle.py -v ArduCopter -f gazebo-iris. This should provide information about the possible arguments when starting the SITL. See https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/using-sitl-for-ardupilot-testing.html for more information. Keep in mind, the default parameters make the drone in a quadcopter configuration in SITL (but may be hexacopter in Gazebo). In order to change the parameter to a hexacopter configuration, param set FRAME_CLASS 2. To see a map of the flight area use: python sim_vehicle.py -v ArduCopter -f gazebo-iris -m --mav10 --map --console -I0

Instructions for Running Drone Code

1. After building the ROS project, source devel/setup.bash in the drone-mavros directory.
2. Run roslaunch server_connector start_connection.launch server_ip:={ip} to launch the drone where {ip} should be replaced by the ip of the ISAACS Server.

Adding Custom Packages

Please visit the Wiki to see how to integrate code and publish topics and services from the local ROS network.

Common Errors

Resource not found: mavros - Probably a faulty git submodule.

1. cd drone-mavros
2. git submodule update --init --recursive
3. catkin build
4. source devel/setup.bash

catkin: command not found

1. Try sudo apt-get install ros-$ROS_DISTRO-catkin python-catkin-tools

When libmavconn package, CMake Error finding package configuration file provided by mavlink.

1. sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-mavros ros-kinetic-mavros-extras

Pymavlink not found

1. Pymavlink may not be installed. To fix this issue, run pip install pymavlink