Review setup instructions

[srmainwaring]

A review of the setup instructions.

1. Dependency on a custom branch of ardupilot_gazebo

• Suggest that the arena model and world is moved into this repo so it is self contained, and use the released / current version of ardupilot_gazebo.

• Replace the section describing the dependencies and setup of ardupilot_gazebo with a link to the repo and comment that the first step is to get the ArduPilotPlugin built following the instructions provided there.

2. Running SITL

cd ardupilot && sim_vehicle.py -D -v ArduCopter -f JSON --add-param-file=$HOME/ardupilot_gazebo_ap/config/gazebo-iris-gimbal-ngps.parm --console --map

• Because I run SITL for many types of vehicle, I keep the eeprom.bin, mav.parm, etc files separate by creating a ~/sitl/{vehicle_name} folder for each type, rather than run from the ardupilot source coded directory.

• Recommend that Gazebo is run before starting SITL. It should not make a difference, but occasionally there is a no link warning which seems to be less likely if the Gazebo side is running waiting to connect.

3. Console warnings

• Expand on the note that because of visual odom the arming checks report the VisOdom is not healthy.

AP: EKF3 IMU0 tilt alignment complete
AP: EKF3 IMU1 tilt alignment complete
AP: EKF3 IMU1 MAG0 initial yaw alignment complete
AP: EKF3 IMU0 MAG0 initial yaw alignment complete
AP: GPS 1: probing for u-blox at 230400 baud
AP: GPS 1: detected u-blox
AP: EKF3 IMU1 origin set
AP: Field Elevation Set: 584m
AP: EKF3 IMU0 origin set
AP: PreArm: VisOdom: not healthy
AP: EKF3 IMU1 is using GPS
AP: EKF3 IMU0 is using GPS
AP: PreArm: VisOdom: not healthy
AP: PreArm: VisOdom: not healthy

4. Point gimbal downdwards

# set roll to centre
GUIDED> rc 6 1500

# set yaw to centre
GUIDED> rc 8 1500

# set pitch directly downwards
GUIDED> rc 7 1300

The PWM for the camera to be directly downwards is 1300 if SERVO7_MIN = 1100 and SERVO7_MAX = 1900. Where MNT1_PITCH_MAX = 45, MNT1_PITCH_MIN = -135, based on the SIYI A8 specs.

PWM	Camera Pitch Angle (deg)
1900	45
1800	22.5
1700	0
1600	-22.5
1500	-45
1400	-67.5
1300	-90
1200	-112.5
1100	-135

5. The Terminal 3 section

This is the main contribution from this repo! Recommend that the installation step is moved to the beginning.

5a. Install dependencies

These instructions are for Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install libgirepository1.0-dev libcairo2-dev
sudo apt-get install gobject-introspection

For macOS the dependencies are installed with:

brew install cairo
brew install gobject-introspection

Start streaming

gz topic -t /world/iris_runway/model/iris_with_gimbal/model/gimbal/link/pitch_link/sensor/camera/image/enable_streaming -m gz.msgs.Boolean -p "data: 1"

The terminal used to launch Gazebo should display the following if the streaming started correctly:

[Msg] GstCameraPlugin:: streaming: started
[Dbg] [GstCameraPlugin.cc:407] GstCameraPlugin: creating generic pipeline
[Msg] GstCameraPlugin: GStreamer element set state returned: 2
[Msg] GstCameraPlugin: starting GStreamer main loop

Missing dependencies on macOS

(ros2-rolling) rhys@MacBookPro2 src % python video_to_feature.py 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/rhys/Code/ros2/rolling/ros2-ardupilot/src/ap_nongps/src/video_to_feature.py", line 4, in <module>
    import feature_match_ardu as feature_match_ardu
  File "/Users/rhys/Code/ros2/rolling/ros2-ardupilot/src/ap_nongps/src/feature_match_ardu.py", line 4, in <module>
    import pyexiv2, json
  File "/Users/rhys/.venv/ros2-rolling/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyexiv2/__init__.py", line 6, in <module>
    from .core import *
  File "/Users/rhys/.venv/ros2-rolling/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyexiv2/core.py", line 1, in <module>
    from .lib import exiv2api
  File "/Users/rhys/.venv/ros2-rolling/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyexiv2/lib/__init__.py", line 23, in <module>
    ctypes.CDLL(os.path.join(lib_dir, 'libexiv2.dylib'))
  File "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/[email protected]/3.12.3/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/ctypes/__init__.py", line 379, in __init__
    self._handle = _dlopen(self._name, mode)
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OSError: dlopen(/Users/rhys/.venv/ros2-rolling/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyexiv2/lib/libexiv2.dylib, 0x0006): Library not loaded: /opt/homebrew/opt/inih/lib/libinih.0.dylib
  Referenced from: <D78FE009-64A0-3221-B934-BFD4DB7243A6> /Users/rhys/.venv/ros2-rolling/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyexiv2/lib/libexiv2.dylib
  Reason: tried: '/opt/homebrew/opt/inih/lib/libinih.0.dylib' (no such file), '/System/Volumes/Preboot/Cryptexes/OS/opt/homebrew/opt/inih/lib/libinih.0.dylib' (no such file), '/opt/homebrew/opt/inih/lib/libinih.0.dylib' (no such file)

Needs additional dependency on macOS

brew install inih

and now running!

$ python video_to_feature.py
Heartbeat from system (system 1 component 0)
Offset x, y(in cms):  0.1942269262460972 -0.3884538524921944
Offset x, y(in cms):  0.1942269262460972 -0.3884538524921944
Offset x, y(in cms):  0.1942269262460972 -0.3884538524921944
Offset x, y(in cms):  0.1942269262460972 -0.3884538524921944

6. Trying to break things...

If I fly off the map the script exits with a seg fault:

Not enough matches are found - 9/10
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/rhys/Code/ros2/rolling/ros2-ardupilot/src/ap_nongps/src/video_to_feature.py", line 84, in <module>
    m.getComp()
  File "/Users/rhys/Code/ros2/rolling/ros2-ardupilot/src/ap_nongps/src/video_to_feature.py", line 61, in getComp
    [bb,x,y] = self.feature.compParam("satellite_image-main.png", self.frame,(self.kp,self.des))
    ^^^^^^^^
TypeError: cannot unpack non-iterable NoneType object
zsh: segmentation fault  python video_to_feature.py
(ros2-rolling) rhys@MacBookPro2 src % 

[snktshrma]

Hi @srmainwaring ! Thanks for the suggestions. I have made almost all the mentioned changes as suggested by you. Let me know if there's any other advice regarding the project or instructions.
Regarding a separate folder for each vehicle type is a good suggestion and I'll be using similar from now on.
Thanks