miodine / ardupilot_gazebo

Ardupilot Gazebo plugin

Requirements :

Native Ubuntu able to run full 3D graphics. Gazebo version 8.x or greater The dev branch will works on gazebo >= 8.x
For Gazebo 7 use branch gazebo7

Disclamer :

This is a playground until I get some time to push the correct patch to gazebo master (I got hard time to work with mercurial..)!
So you can expect things to not be up-to-date.
This assume that your are using Ubuntu 16.04 or Ubuntu 18.04

Usage :

I assume you already have Gazebo installed with ROS (or without).
If you don't have it yet, install ROS with sudo apt install ros-melodic-desktop-full (follow instruction here http://wiki.ros.org/melodic/Installation/Ubuntu).
Due to a bug in current gazebo release from ROS, please update gazebo with OSRF version from http://gazebosim.org/tutorials?tut=install_ubuntu

libgazeboX-dev must be installed, X be your gazebo version (9 on ROS melodic).

For Gazebo X

sudo apt-get install libgazeboX-dev

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

echo 'source /usr/share/gazebo/setup.sh' >> ~/.bashrc

Set Path of Gazebo Models (Adapt the path to where to clone the repo)

echo 'export GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH=~/ardupilot_gazebo/models' >> ~/.bashrc

Set Path of Gazebo Worlds (Adapt the path to where to clone the repo)

echo 'export GAZEBO_RESOURCE_PATH=~/ardupilot_gazebo/worlds:${GAZEBO_RESOURCE_PATH}' >> ~/.bashrc

source ~/.bashrc

DONE !

Now launch a world file with a copter/rover/plane and ardupilot plugin, and it should work! (I will try to add some world file and model later)

HELP

How to Launch :
Launch Ardupilot Software In the Loop Simulation for each vehicle. On new terminal, launch Gazebo with basic demo world.

#####ROVER (no model provided for now)

On 1st Terminal (Launch Ardupilot SITL)

sim_vehicle.py -v APMrover2 -f gazebo-rover --map --console

On 2nd Terminal (Launch Gazebo with demo Rover model)

gazebo --verbose worlds/ (Please Add if there is one.)

COPTER

On 1st Terminal (Launch Ardupilot SITL)

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

On 2nd Terminal (Launch Gazebo with demo 3DR Iris model)

gazebo --verbose worlds/iris_arducopter_runway.world

PLANE

On 1st Terminal (Launch Ardupilot SITL)

sim_vehicle.py -v ArduPlane -f gazebo-zephyr --map --console

On 2nd Terminal (Launch Gazebo with demo Zephyr flying wing model)

gazebo --verbose worlds/zephyr_ardupilot_demo.world

In addition, you can use any GCS of Ardupilot locally or remotely (will require connection setup). If MAVProxy Developer GCS is uncomportable. Omit --map --console arguments out of SITL launch and use APMPlanner 2 or QGroundControl instead. Local connection with APMPlanner2/QGroundControl is automatic, and recommended.

Troubleshooting

### Missing libArduPilotPlugin.so... etc

In case you see this message when you launch gazebo with demo worlds, check you have no error after sudo make install.
If no error use "ls" on the install path given to see if the plugin is really here.
If this is correct, check with cat /usr/share/gazebo/setup.sh the variable GAZEBO_PLUGIN_PATH. It should be the same as the install path. If not use cp to copy the lib to right path.

For Example

sudo cp -a /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gazebo-7.0/plugins/ /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gazebo-7/

path mismatch is confirmed as ROS's glitch. It will be fixed.

Future(not activated yet)

To use Gazebo gps, you must offset the heading of +90° as gazebo gps is NWU and ardupilot is NED (I don't use GPS altitude for now)
example : for SITL default location

    <spherical_coordinates>
      <surface_model>EARTH_WGS84</surface_model>
      <latitude_deg>-35.363261</latitude_deg>
      <longitude_deg>149.165230</longitude_deg>
      <elevation>584</elevation>
      <heading_deg>87</heading_deg>
    </spherical_coordinates>

Rangefinder