UAV Simulation with PX4, ROS2 & Micro XRCE-DDS

Environment for running UAV simulations with PX4 1.16.0, ROS2, Gazebo, and Micro XRCE-DDS, including the PX4-ROS2 bridge.

Features

• Fully containerized PX4 SITL environment for Ubuntu 22.04.
• RGB and Depth sensor enabled for multirotor X500.
• GPU based YOLO v8 object detection.
• 2D lidar scanning.

Directory Structure

PX4_1.16_ROS2_XRCE_DDS/
├── docker/
    └── Dockerfile
    └── entrypoint.sh
    └── run.sh
    └── build.sh
    └── scripts
        └── ..
└── launch_files/
    └── single_x500_object_detection.sh
    └── single_vtol.sh
    └── single_x500_lidar_icp.sh
    └── single_x500_down_offboard.sh
└── resources/
    └── gz_models/
    └── gz_worlds/
    └── patches/
    └── ros_packages/
        └── camera_subscriber/
            └── ..
        └── px4_tf_bridge/
            └── ..
        └── road_segmentation/
            └── ..
        └── slam_toolbox.yaml
    └── rviz
        └── ..
└── assets
    └── ..
└── README.md

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Installation

Clone and build

git clone https://github.com/rrajnidhi/px4_1.16_ros2_xrce_dds.git
cd px4_1.16_ros2_xrce_dds/docker
./build.sh

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Launch container

To start and enter the docker container

./run.sh

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Launch simulation

A. Object detection on x500_depth Quadcopter

Once inside to launch PX4 SITL + ROS2 Bridge + Micro XRCE-DDS with YOLO v8 object detection in custom world :

cd /launch_files
./single_x500_object_detection.sh

Caution: This currently detects NVIDIA GPU and runs on it if availbale. Fallback is CPU, but this can saturate the processor.

Demonstration Videos :

Here are the links to GPU-Accelerated tests.

Sample video	Full simulation

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B. Lidar 2D Scan on x500_lidar

To launch PX4 SITL + ROS2 Bridge + Micro XRCE-DDS with lidar scan 2D in custom world

cd /launch_files
./single_x500_lidar_icp.sh

Illustration

Note: How to visualise ?

The tmux script loads a tested rviz config file. Be mindful while changing the rviz settings there. Description is as follows.

a. In Rviz Displays -> Global Options -> Fixed Frame , enter "x500_lidar_2d_0/link/lidar_2d_v2". And in topic section "/world/default/model/x500_lidar_2d_0/link/link/sensor/lidar_2d_v2/scan".

b. Apply frame. To find the frame : ros2 topic echo /world/walls/model/x500_lidar_2d_0/link/link/sensor/lidar_2d_v2/scan --once and look for header: frame_id: "xxxxx". Use that exact frame_id as the Fixed Frame in RViz. This will display everything from lidar frame. To set global map view, set map as Fixed Frame.

Demonstration Video :

Here are the links to watch the SITL simulation video of 2D lidar activated on x500_2d_lidar multirotor UAV.

Sample video	Full simulation

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C. Drone following road using image segmentation

To launch PX4 SITL + ROS2 Bridge + Micro XRCE-DDS with a x500_mono_cam_down and navigate the uav offboard following the center of road using image segmentation.

cd /launch_files
./single_x500_down_offboard.sh

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D. VTOL landing using camera

To launch PX4 SITL + ROS2 Bridge + Micro XRCE-DDS with a standard VTOL with downward looking camera.

TBA

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List PX4 topics

ros2 topic list

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List gz topics

gz topic -l

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Maintainer

Nidhi Raj nidhirajr@gmail.com

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Acknowledgements

• PX4 Autopilot
• ROS 2 Humble
• Gazebo Sim
• Micro XRCE-DDS

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Enjoy! If you find this project useful, please consider giving it a ⭐