ardupilot/Tools/ros2/README.md

ArduPilot ROS 2 packages

This directory contains ROS 2 packages and configuration files for running ROS 2 processes and nodes that communicate with the ArduPilot DDS client library using the microROS agent. It contains the following packages:

ardupilot_sitl

A colcon package for building and running ArduPilot SITL using the ROS 2 CLI. For example ardurover SITL may be launched with:

ros2 launch ardupilot_sitl sitl.launch.py command:=ardurover model:=rover

ardupilot_dds_test

A colcon package for testing communication between micro_ros_agent and the ArduPilot AP_DDS client library.

Prerequisites

The packages depend on:

• ROS 2 Humble

Install Ubuntu

1. Create a workspace folder

mkdir -p ~/ros_ws/src && cd ~/ros_ws/src

The ROS 2 tutorials contain more details regarding ROS 2 workspaces.

2. Get the ros2.repos file

cd ~/ros2_ws/src
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/master/Tools/ros2/ros2.repos
vcs import --recursive < ros2.repos

3. Update dependencies

cd ~/ros_ws
source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
sudo apt update
rosdep update
rosdep install --rosdistro ${ROS_DISTRO} --from-paths src

4. Build

Check that the ROS environment is configured correctly:

ROS_VERSION=2
ROS_PYTHON_VERSION=3
ROS_DISTRO=humble

cd ~/ros_ws
colcon build --cmake-args -DBUILD_TESTING=ON

5. Test

source ./install/setup.bash
colcon test --packages-select ardupilot_dds_tests
colcon test-result --all --verbose

Install macOS

The install procedure on macOS is similar, except that all dependencies must be built from source and additional compiler flags are needed.

1. Create a workspace folder

mkdir -p ~/ros_ws/src && cd ~/ros_ws/src

2. Get the ros2_macos.repos file

The ros2_macos.repos includes additional dependencies to build:

cd ~/ros2_ws/src
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/master/Tools/ros2/ros2_macos.repos
vcs import --recursive < ros2_macos.repos

3. Update dependencies

cd ~/ros_ws
source /{path_to_your_ros_distro_workspace}/install/setup.zsh

4.1. Build microxrcedds_gen:

cd ~/ros2_ws/src/microxrcedds_gen
./gradlew assemble
export PATH=$PATH:$(pwd)/scripts

4.2. Build colcon projects

colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args \
-DBUILD_TESTING=ON \
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo \
-DCMAKE_MACOSX_RPATH=FALSE \
-DUAGENT_SOCKETCAN_PROFILE=OFF \
-DUAGENT_LOGGER_PROFILE=OFF \
-DUAGENT_USE_SYSTEM_LOGGER=OFF \
-DUAGENT_USE_SYSTEM_FASTDDS=ON \
-DUAGENT_USE_SYSTEM_FASTCDR=ON \
--event-handlers=desktop_notification-

5. Test

colcon test \
--pytest-args -s -v \
--event-handlers console_cohesion+ desktop_notification- \
--packages-select ardupilot_dds_tests

Install Docker

0. Build the image and run the container

Clone the ArduPilot docker project:

git clone https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot_dev_docker.git

Build the container:

cd ~/ardupilot_dev_docker/docker
docker build -t ardupilot/ardupilot-dev-ros -f Dockerfile_dev-ros .

Start the container in interactive mode:

docker run -it --name ardupilot-dds ardupilot/ardupilot-dev-ros

Connect another bash process to the running container:

docker container exec -it ardupilot-dds /bin/bash

The remaining steps 1 - 5 are the same as for Ubuntu. You may need to install MAVProxy if it is not available on the container.

pip install -U MAVProxy

Test details

The launch file replicates the following commands:

socat -d -d pty,raw,echo=0,link=./dev/ttyROS0 pty,raw,echo=0,link=./dev/ttyROS1

ros2 run micro_ros_agent micro_ros_agent serial --baudrate 115200 --dev ./dev/ttyROS0 --refs $(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/dds_xrce_profile.xml

arducopter --synthetic-clock --wipe --model quad --speedup 1 --slave 0 --instance 0 --uartC uart:./dev/ttyROS1 --defaults $(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/copter.parm,$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/dds_serial.parm --sim-address 127.0.0.1

mavproxy.py --out 127.0.0.1:14550 --out 127.0.0.1:14551 --master tcp:127.0.0.1:5760 --sitl 127.0.0.1:5501

Using individual launch files

ros2 launch ardupilot_sitl virtual_ports.launch.py tty0:=./dev/ttyROS0 tty1:=./dev/ttyROS1

ros2 launch ardupilot_sitl micro_ros_agent.launch.py transport:=serial refs:=$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/dds_xrce_profile.xml baudrate:=115200 device:=./dev/ttyROS0

ros2 launch ardupilot_sitl sitl.launch.py synthetic_clock:=True wipe:=True model:=quad speedup:=1 slave:=0 instance:=0 uartC:=uart:./dev/ttyROS1 defaults:=$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/copter.parm,$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/dds_serial.parm sim_address:=127.0.0.1

ros2 launch ardupilot_sitl mavproxy.launch.py master:=tcp:127.0.0.1:5760 sitl:=127.0.0.1:5501

Using combined launch file

ros2 launch ardupilot_sitl sitl_dds_serial.launch.py \
\
tty0:=./dev/ttyROS0 \
tty1:=./dev/ttyROS1 \
\
transport:=serial \
refs:=$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/dds_xrce_profile.xml \
baudrate:=115200 \
device:=./dev/ttyROS0 \
\
synthetic_clock:=True \
wipe:=True \
model:=quad \
speedup:=1 \
slave:=0 \
instance:=0 \
uartC:=uart:./dev/ttyROS1 \
defaults:=$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/copter.parm,$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/dds_serial.parm \
sim_address:=127.0.0.1 \
\
master:=tcp:127.0.0.1:5760 \
sitl:=127.0.0.1:5501

UDP version

ros2 launch ardupilot_sitl sitl_dds_udp.launch.py transport:=udp4 refs:=$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/dds_xrce_profile.xml synthetic_clock:=True wipe:=False model:=quad speedup:=1 slave:=0 instance:=0 defaults:=$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/copter.parm,$(ros2 pkg prefix ardupilot_sitl)/share/ardupilot_sitl/config/default_params/dds_udp.parm sim_address:=127.0.0.1 master:=tcp:127.0.0.1:5760 sitl:=127.0.0.1:5501