simulations_ros

Repositoy for our sim

steps for installing

1. Install ROS

First, install ROS Kinetic using the following instructions: http://wiki.ros.org/kinetic/Installation/Ubuntu

Do Desktop Install
Make sure to follow all the way through the installation (until Step 1.7 at the end of the page)

2. Set Up Catkin workspace

We use catkin build instead of catkin_make. Please install the following:

sudo apt-get install python-wstool python-rosinstall-generator python-catkin-tools

Then, initialize the catkin workspace:

mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src
cd ~/catkin_ws
catkin init
catkin config --extend /opt/ros/kinetic
catkin config --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
catkin config --merge-devel

3. Dependencies installation (catkin_make)

sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-mavlink
sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-geographic-msgs
sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-move-base-msgs
sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-control-toolbox
cd ~/catkin_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/mavlink/mavros.git
git clone https://github.com/AkellaSummerResearch/tf_publisher

4. Clone our ROS package repositories

cd ~/catkin_ws/src 
git clone https://github.com/AkellaSummerResearch/simulations_ros.git

5. Make instructions

Inside catkin_ws, run catkin_make

cd ~/catkin_ws 
catkin_make 

6. Install Gazebo

Setup your computer to accept software from http://packages.osrfoundation.org:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo/ubuntu-stable `lsb_release -cs` main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gazebo-stable.list'

Setup keys:

wget http://packages.osrfoundation.org/gazebo.key -O - | sudo apt-key add - 

Reload software list:

sudo apt-get update

Install Gazebo:

sudo apt-get install gazebo7 libgazebo7-dev

Install ROS plugins:

sudo apt install ros-kinetic-gazebo-ros ros-kinetic-gazebo-plugins

Give permissions to your users:

sudo chown $USER .gazebo/

6. Install Px4

run ubuntu_sim_common_deps.sh

cd ~/catkin_ws/src/simulations_ros/scripts/
./ubuntu_sim_common_deps.sh
sudo apt install libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libignition-math2-dev
cd ~/Firmware 
make posix_sitl_default gazebo

7. Add paths to .bashrc

export GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH=${GAZEBO_MODEL_PATH}:~/catkin_ws/src/simulations_ros/models
export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH:~/Firmware
export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH:~/Firmware/Tools/sitl_gazebo
source ~/Firmware/Tools/setup_gazebo.bash ~/Firmware ~/Firmware/build/posix_sitl_default

source bashrc

source ~/.bashrc

8. Running Simulation

move script to start px4 sitl

cp ~/catkin_ws/src/simulations_ros/scripts/startsim.sh ~

In first terminal

./startsim.sh

In another terminal

roslaunch simulations_ros px4.launch

If the previous command fails with

[FATAL] [1538090263.500882984]: UAS: GeographicLib exception: File not readable /usr/share/GeographicLib/geoids/egm96-5.pgm | Run install_geographiclib_dataset.sh script in order to install Geoid Model dataset!

run

cd catkin_ws/src/mavros/mavros/scripts/
./install_geographiclib_datasets.sh

after a few seconds the drone will initialize and you can command the drone to takeoff. In the px4 terminal run:

commander takeoff

If you want to see the quad's camera, type:

rosrun image_view image_view image:=/stereo/camera/left/image_raw

9. Remove GPS noise in PX4

In the terminal that is running px4, run the following:

param set EKF2_GPS_P_NOISE 0.01
param set EKF2_GPS_V_NOISE 0.1
param set EKF2_BARO_NOISE 0.5
param set EKF2_GPS_DELAY 0

PX4 should save these parameters. The next time you run PX4, the parameters should be set to the ones above. To make sure they are right, run the following in PX4's terminal:

param show EKF2_GPS_P_NOISE
param show EKF2_GPS_V_NOISE
param show EKF2_BARO_NOISE
param show EKF2_GPS_DELAY