Interoperability system for integration between custom Ground Control System and autonomous aerial vehicles with ArduPilot. Currently integrated and tested for quadcopter designs. Initial prototype developed for Schulich Unmanned Aerial Vehicles' first ever flight computer software system.
initialize.py - Establishes and verifies the connection to the vehicle.
arm.py - Provides methods to arm and disarm the aerial vehicle.
takeoff.py - Allows the vehicle to takeoff to a target altitude (relative to home altitude)
mode.py - Switches flight modes
waypoint.py - Flies to a specified waypoint relative to the current position, or through geo-coordinates
main.py - Simple terminal interface to trigger Autopilot commands.
Ultimately, for Schulich UAV, this should be converted to a server that can asynchronously listen for commands. This is developed purely for the purpose of interacting with the ArduCopter system through MAVProxy.
To run physics simulation on autopilot code, use Software in the Loop (SITL). Documentation: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/SITL-setup-landingpage.html.
It is recommended to use a Linux distribution, or install WSL on Windows systems. Clone the ArduPilot repository and run SITL/MAVProxy in the Linux terminal with "sim_vehicle.py". Make sure to run ArduCopter. SITL and MAVProxy will start, and will output the simulated vehicle port connection to terminal. Use this port as an input to run this program (main.py). View live vehicle movement and control through any GCS software (Mission Planner, QGroundControl, etc.).