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Overview

This package provides a complete simulation environment for the RS1 drone, a modified SJTU drone model optimised for modern Ignition Gazebo Fortress. The simulation includes realistic sensor models, flight dynamics, and a comprehensive sensor suite suitable for autonomous navigation, mapping, and surveillance applications.

NEW: Multi-Drone Support - The package now supports spawning and controlling multiple drones simultaneously with working sensor bridging and independent operation (to-do).

Features

Multi-Drone System ✅ WORKING

  • Dynamic Spawning: Launch 1-10 drones using simple command scripts
  • Self-Contained Launch: Each spawner handles world, bridge config, and drone spawning
  • Independent Operation: Each drone operates with isolated sensor topics and control
  • Automatic Bridge Generation: Dynamic YAML bridge configuration for all drones
  • Linear Positioning: Drones spawn 2 meters apart in a line for collision avoidance
  • Full Sensor Suite Per Drone: All sensors (IMU, cameras, sonar, LiDAR, GPS) work independently with their own unique topics which are generated dynamically

Available Launch Options

  • Spawner: ./launch_multi_drone_simple.sh <num_drones> - Working Spawner with controller not implemented

Flight Dynamics

  • Native Ignition Gazebo VelocityControl plugin
  • Realistic quadrotor physics with tuned control parameters
  • Odometry publishing for pose estimation
  • Collision detection and contact sensing

Sensor Suite

  • IMU: High-fidelity inertial measurement unit with realistic noise models
  • GPS/NavSat: Global positioning system for outdoor navigation
  • Cameras:
    • Front-facing camera (640x360, 60Hz) for forward vision
    • Bottom-facing camera (640x360, 15Hz) for downward imaging
  • Range Sensor: Sonar for altitude measurement (0.02-25m range)
  • 2D LiDAR: For obstacle detection and mapping (0.1-30m range)

Simulation Environments

  • Built-in World: Simple environment with ground plane and obstacles

ROS2 Integration

  • Full ROS2 Humble compatibility
  • Comprehensive topic bridging between Ignition and ROS2
  • Standard ROS message types for seamless integration
  • RVIZ configuration for visualisation

Prerequisites

System Requirements

  • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
  • ROS2 Humble
  • Ignition Gazebo Fortress version 6.17.0
  • Ignition-sensor6 Plugins

Dependencies

sudo apt install ros-humble-ros-gz-sim ros-humble-ros-gz-bridge
sudo apt install ros-humble-joint-state-publisher ros-humble-robot-state-publisher
sudo apt install ros-humble-rviz2
sudo apt install libignition-sensors6

Installation

  1. Clone the repository:

    cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/jackfruittt/rs1_robot.git

  2. Build the package:

    cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build --packages-select rs1_robot
source install/setup.bash

Usage

Multi-Drone System ✅ WORKING

The multi-drone spawning system is now fully functional and can used as such:

Quick Start - Fixed Spawner (Recommended)

# Source ws 
source rs1_ws/install/setup.bash

# Launch 3 drones (note: Shell script is located in the root folder of rs1_robot, I recommend moving this to the home directory to avoid have to path the the shell script)
./rs1_ws/src/rs1_robot/launch_multi_drone_simple.sh

#If shell script is moved to home directory
./launch_multi_drone_simple.sh

Direct ROS2 Launch

# Use the launch file directly
ros2 launch rs1_robot rs1_drone_spawner.py num_drones:=3

What Works:

  • ✅ All drones spawn correctly in Gazebo
  • ✅ All sensors operational (IMU, cameras, sonar, LiDAR, GPS)
  • ✅ Independent topic namespaces: /rs1_drone_1/, /rs1_drone_2/, etc.
  • ✅ Dynamic bridge configuration generation
  • ✅ Self-contained launch (world + bridge + drones)
  • ✅ Linear positioning (2m spacing) for collision avoidance

Multi-Drone Topics: Each drone operates independently:

  • /rs1_drone_1/cmd_vel, /rs1_drone_1/odom, /rs1_drone_1/imu
  • /rs1_drone_1/front/image, /rs1_drone_1/sonar, /rs1_drone_1/lidar
  • /rs1_drone_2/cmd_vel, /rs1_drone_2/odom, /rs1_drone_2/imu
  • And so on for each drone...

Basic Simulation Launch for One drone

Launch the complete simulation environment:

ros2 launch rs1_robot rs1_robot_ignition.py

This will start:

  • Ignition Gazebo with the drone model
  • ROS2-Gazebo bridge for topic communication
  • Robot state publisher for TF frames
  • RVIZ for visualisation

Available Topics

Single Drone Topics

For single drone operation (or when referencing a specific drone in multi-drone setup):

Control Topics

  • /rs1_drone/cmd_vel (geometry_msgs/Twist) - Single drone velocity commands
  • /rs1_drone_1/cmd_vel (geometry_msgs/Twist) - Multi-drone: Drone 1 velocity commands
  • /rs1_drone_2/cmd_vel (geometry_msgs/Twist) - Multi-drone: Drone 2 velocity commands
  • And so on for each drone...

Sensor Topics (Per Drone)

Each drone has its own complete sensor suite:

  • /rs1_drone_X/imu (sensor_msgs/Imu) - IMU data
  • /rs1_drone_X/odom (nav_msgs/Odometry) - Odometry information
  • /rs1_drone_X/navsat (sensor_msgs/NavSatFix) - GPS data
  • /rs1_drone_X/sonar (sensor_msgs/Range) - Downward range sensor
  • /rs1_drone_X/lidar (sensor_msgs/LaserScan) - 2D LiDAR data

Camera Topics (Per Drone)

  • /rs1_drone_X/front/image (sensor_msgs/Image) - Front camera image
  • /rs1_drone_X/front/camera_info (sensor_msgs/CameraInfo) - Front camera info
  • /rs1_drone_X/bottom/image (sensor_msgs/Image) - Bottom camera image
  • /rs1_drone_X/bottom/camera_info (sensor_msgs/CameraInfo) - Bottom camera info

Replace X with drone number (1, 2, 3, etc.)

Multi-Drone Topic Verification

# List all drone topics
ros2 topic list | grep rs1_drone

# Check specific drone sensor data
ros2 topic echo /rs1_drone_1/imu
ros2 topic echo /rs1_drone_2/sonar
ros2 topic echo /rs1_drone_3/lidar

Configuration

Drone Parameters

Edit config/drone.yaml to modify:

  • Namespace settings
  • Control gains (velocity, attitude, angular rate)
  • Maximum velocities and accelerations

Bridge Configuration

Modify config/gazebo_bridge.yaml to:

  • Add or remove topic bridges
  • Change message types
  • Adjust topic namespaces

World Selection

The launch file loads worlds/simple_trees_builtin.sdf by default.

Flight Control Examples

Single Drone Control

# Takeoff command (move up 2 metres)
ros2 topic pub /rs1_drone/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "linear: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 2.0}"

# Move forward at 1 m/s
ros2 topic pub /rs1_drone/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "linear: {x: 1.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0}"

# Rotate about z-axis at 0.5 rad/s
ros2 topic pub /rs1_drone/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "angular: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.5}"

Multi-Drone Control (ToDO, In theory would work as such)

# Control drone 1
ros2 topic pub /rs1_drone_1/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "linear: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 2.0}"

# Control drone 2 - move forward
ros2 topic pub /rs1_drone_2/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "linear: {x: 1.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.0}"

# Control drone 3 - rotate
ros2 topic pub /rs1_drone_3/cmd_vel geometry_msgs/msg/Twist "angular: {x: 0.0, y: 0.0, z: 0.5}"

Sensor Data Monitoring

View Sensor Data

# Monitor IMU data
ros2 topic echo /rs1_drone_X/imu

# Monitor altitude from sonar
ros2 topic echo /rs1_drone_X/sonar

# Monitor GPS coordinates
ros2 topic echo /rs1_drone_X/navsat

# Monitor LiDAR scan data
ros2 topic echo /rs1_drone_X/lidar

Camera Streams

Use RVIZ or image view to visualise camera feeds (alrady loaded into rviz by default but can use if you launch with rviz disabled at first):

ros2 run image_view image_view image:=/rs1_drone_X/front/image
ros2 run image_view image_view image:=/rs1_drone_X/bottom/image

Development

Package Structure

rs1_robot/
├── config/                 # Configuration files
│   ├── drone.yaml         # Drone parameters  
│   ├── gazebo_bridge.yaml # Static bridge configuration
│   └── rs1_robot_config.rviz # RVIZ configuration
├── launch/                # Launch files
│   ├── rs1_robot_ignition.py     # Single drone simulation
│   ├── rs1_drone_spawner.py      # Multi-drone spawner
│   └── rs1_robot_rviz.py         # RVIZ launch
├── scripts/               # Utility scripts
│   ├── generate_dynamic_bridge.py # Dynamic bridge config generator
├── models/                # 3D model files
│   ├── quadrotor_4.dae    # Drone visual model
│   └── quadrotor_4.stl    # Drone collision model
├── urdf/                  # Robot description files
│   ├── rs1_drone.urdf.xacro         # Single drone URDF
│   └── rs1_drone_adaptive.urdf.xacro # Multi-drone adaptive URDF
└── worlds/                # Simulation worlds
    ├── simple_trees_builtin.sdf # Main world (used by multi-drone)
    ├── simple_trees.sdf
    └── simple_test.world

Customisation

Multi-Drone Configuration

  1. Number of Drones: Modify shell scripts or use launch parameters
  2. Positioning: Edit spawn_drones() function in spawner files for different formations
  3. Bridge Topics: The system auto-generates bridge configs, or modify generate_dynamic_bridge.py
  4. World Selection: Currently uses simple_trees_builtin.sdf (can be changed in spawner files)

Adding New Sensors

  1. Modify urdf/rs1_drone_adaptive.urdf.xacro to add sensor definitions
  2. Update scripts/generate_dynamic_bridge.py to include new sensor topics
  3. Rebuild the package

Tuning Flight Parameters

Adjust control gains in config/drone.yaml:

  • velocityGain: Responsiveness to velocity commands
  • attitudeGain: Attitude control stability
  • angularRateGain: Angular velocity control

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Multi-drone visual conflicts:

  • Cosmetic Gazebo warnings about existing visuals - doesn't affect functionality
  • All drones spawn and operate correctly despite warnings
  • Mesa graphics warnings are system-level and don't impact simulation

Simulation won't start:

  • Ensure all dependencies are installed
  • Check that Ignition Gazebo Fortress is properly installed
  • Verify ROS2 Humble sourcing
  • Try cleaning: pkill -f "ign gazebo" && pkill -f "parameter_bridge"

No sensor data from specific drone:

  • Check if bridge config was generated: ls -la /tmp/rs1_dynamic_bridge.yaml
  • Verify topics exist: ros2 topic list | grep rs1_drone_X
  • Check bridge logs for errors

Bridge generation fails:

  • Ensure scripts/generate_dynamic_bridge.py is executable
  • Check Python dependencies: python3 -c "import yaml"
  • Verify script path in spawner files

Debug Commands

# List all drone topics
ros2 topic list | grep rs1_drone

# Check specific drone topic data rates
ros2 topic hz /rs1_drone_1/imu
ros2 topic hz /rs1_drone_2/sonar

# Monitor bridge config generation
cat /tmp/rs1_dynamic_bridge.yaml

# Check drone count in bridge config
grep -c "rs1_drone_" /tmp/rs1_dynamic_bridge.yaml

# Verify all drones have topics
for i in {1..3}; do echo "Drone $i:"; ros2 topic list | grep rs1_drone_$i | wc -l; done

Performance Tips

  • Reduce number of drones for better performance
  • Use simple_trees_builtin.sdf world for fastest simulation
  • Monitor system resources: htop or nvidia-smi (if using GPU)
  • Close unnecessary applications during multi-drone simulation

Acknowledgements

  • Based on the original SJTU Drone simulation package
  • Adapted for Ignition Gazebo Fortress compatibility
  • Uses native Ignition Gazebo plugins for realistic simulation

Contact

About

This repo will contain the sim model for the robot of choice as well as all control code

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