RDC_Simulation/docs/installation.md

Installation Guide

Quick Install

# Ubuntu/Debian
./setup/install_ubuntu.sh
source activate.sh

# Test
python standalone_simulation.py

Install Scripts

Platform	Command
Ubuntu/Debian	./setup/install_ubuntu.sh
ArduPilot SITL	./setup/install_ardupilot.sh
Arch Linux	./setup/install_arch.sh
macOS	./setup/install_macos.sh
Windows	.\setup\install_windows.ps1

Platform Support

Mode	Ubuntu	macOS	Windows
Standalone	✅	✅	✅
Gazebo + ROS 2	✅	❌	WSL2
ArduPilot SITL	✅	❌	WSL2

---

Ubuntu/Debian

./setup/install_ubuntu.sh
source activate.sh
python standalone_simulation.py

Installs:

• ROS 2 Humble/Jazzy
• Gazebo
• Python packages (pybullet, numpy, opencv, pymavlink)

---

ArduPilot SITL

For realistic flight controller simulation:

./setup/install_ardupilot.sh
source ~/.bashrc

Installs:

• Micro-XRCE-DDS-Gen (required for DDS)
• ArduPilot SITL
• ardupilot_gz (Gazebo integration)
• MAVProxy (~/.local/bin/mavproxy.py)

Run (2 terminals):

Terminal 1:

source ~/ardu_ws/install/setup.bash
ros2 launch ardupilot_gz_bringup iris_runway.launch.py

Terminal 2:

mavproxy.py --console --map --master=:14550

---

Windows (WSL2)

1. Install WSL2:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-22.04

2. Open Ubuntu and run:

./setup/install_ubuntu.sh
source activate.sh
python standalone_simulation.py

---

macOS

./setup/install_macos.sh
source activate.sh
python standalone_simulation.py

Note: ROS 2 and Gazebo not supported. Use standalone mode.

---

Manual Install

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python standalone_simulation.py

---

Verification

python -c "import pybullet; print('PyBullet OK')"
python -c "import cv2; print('OpenCV OK')"
python -c "from pymavlink import mavutil; print('pymavlink OK')"

---

Troubleshooting

MAVProxy not found

# Install
pip3 install --user mavproxy

# Add to PATH
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Verify
which mavproxy.py

microxrceddsgen not found

# Install (needed for ArduPilot DDS)
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/eProsima/Micro-XRCE-DDS-Gen.git ~/Micro-XRCE-DDS-Gen
cd ~/Micro-XRCE-DDS-Gen
./gradlew assemble

# Add to PATH
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:~/Micro-XRCE-DDS-Gen/scripts' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Build errors

# Rebuild with override flag
cd ~/ardu_ws
colcon build --packages-up-to ardupilot_gz_bringup --allow-overriding ros_gz_bridge ros_gz_sim sdformat_urdf