Simulate Erle-Copter DIY in Gazebo

Configuring your Ubuntu Machine

We recommended to install Ubuntu 14.04.

First at all, install the base packages

sudo apt-get install gawk make git curl -y

Then install the dependencies for MAVProxy

sudo apt-get install g++ python-pip python-matplotlib python-serial python-wxgtk2.8 python-scipy python-opencv python-numpy python-pyparsing ccache realpath -y

Now, install MAVProxy

sudo pip2 install pymavlink MAVProxy catkin_pkg --upgrade

ArduPilot

The ArduPilot project is an open source autopilot for drones. We'll be using its code to simulate the UAVs:

Compile a Specific Branch of ArduPilot

mkdir -p ~/simulation; cd ~/simulationgit clone https://github.com/erlerobot/ardupilotcd ardupilotgit checkout gazebo

Getting Latest Version of JSBSim

cd ~/simulation
git clone git://github.com/tridge/jsbsim.git
# Additional dependencies required
sudo apt-get install libtool automake autoconf libexpat1-dev -y
cd jsbsim
./autogen.sh --enable-librariesmake -j2
sudo make install
sudo pip2 install pymavlink MAVProxy catkin_pkg --upgrade

Install ROS Indigo

Setup your computer to accept software from packages.ros.org, setup your keys and install (make sure your Debian package index is up-to-date):

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-key adv --keyserver hkp://pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-key 0xB01FA116sudo apt-get update

Install, ROS package, build, and communication libraries. No GUI tools.:

sudo apt-get install ros-indigo-ros-base

Initialize rosdep, before you can use ROS, you will need to initialize rosdep. Rosdep enables you to easily install system dependencies for source you want to compile and is required to run some core components in ROS.

sudo rosdep initrosdep update

It's convenient if the ROS environment variables are automatically added to your bash session every time a new shell is launched:

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

Get rosinstall and some additional dependencies

sudo apt-get -y install python-rosinstall          \                        ros-indigo-octomap-msgs    \                        ros-indigo-joy             \                        ros-indigo-geodesy         \                        ros-indigo-octomap-ros     \                        ros-indigo-hector-gazebo    \                        unzip

Add OSRF repository and install drcsim

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.osrfoundation.org/drc/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/drc-latest.list'wget http://packages.osrfoundation.org/drc.key -O - | sudo apt-key add -sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get -y install drcsim

Install mavros but from shadow repo to get latest version earlier

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.ros.org/ros-shadow-fixed/ubuntu/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ros-shadow.list'sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get -y install ros-indigo-mavros \                        ros-indigo-mavros-extras \                        ros-indigo-mav-msgs

Create ROS workspace

mkdir -p ~/simulation/ros_catkin_ws/src

Initialize the workspace

cd ~/simulation/ros_catkin_ws/srccatkin_init_workspacecd ~/simulation/ros_catkin_wscatkin_makesource devel/setup.bash

Download these repositories in src:

cd src/
git clone https://github.com/erlerobot/ardupilot_sitl_gazebo_plugin# Rotors simulation git clone https://github.com/erlerobot/rotors_simulator -b sonar_plugin## mav commgit clone https://github.com/PX4/mav_comm.git## glog catkingit clone https://github.com/ethz-asl/glog_catkin.git## catkin simplegit clone https://github.com/catkin/catkin_simple.git# Installation of `mavros` from its source code:cd ~/simulation/ros_catkin_wswstool init src     # (if not already initialized)wstool set -t src mavros --git https://github.com/erlerobot/mavros.gitwstool update -t src

Then compile everything together:

cd ~/simulation/ros_catkin_ws    catkin_make

Install Gazebo models

git clone https://github.com/erlerobot/erle_gazebo_modelsmv erle_gazebo_models ~/.gazebo/modelsrm erle_gazebo_models

Launching the simulation

Executing ArduCopter

cd ardupilot/ArduCopter../Tools/autotest/sim_vehicle.sh -j 4 -f Gazebo --map --console# once MAVProxy has launched completely, load the parametersparam load ~/simulation/ardupilot/Tools/Frame_params/Erle-Copter.param

In another terminal

source ~/simulation/ros_catkin_ws/devel/setup.bashroslaunch ardupilot_sitl_gazebo_plugin erlecopter_spawn.launch

Controlling Erle-Copter using MAVProxy

Make the copter take off. In the first terminal execute:

# in the MAVProxy prompt:mode GUIDEDarm throttletakeoff 2

or overriding the RC:

# in the MAVProxy prompt:mode LOITERarm throttlerc 3 1600