A ROS 2 simulation environment for UAV and UGV development using GPS-denied navigation with vision-based localization, while maintaining GPS-based geofencing for safety.

Features

GPS-Denied Navigation: Visual odometry, optical flow, and EKF sensor fusion
GPS-Based Geofencing: Safety boundaries using GPS (navigation remains GPS-free)
Multi-Vehicle Support: Coordinated UAV and UGV operations
ArduPilot SITL: Full flight controller simulation
Gazebo Harmonic: Modern physics simulation
ROS 2 Integration: Full ROS 2 Humble/Jazzy support

Requirements

Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 (WSL2 supported)
16GB RAM recommended
50GB disk space
NVIDIA GPU recommended (software rendering available)

Installation

git clone <repository-url> ~/sim/uav_ugv_simulation
cd ~/sim/uav_ugv_simulation
bash setup.sh

Installation takes 20-40 minutes (builds ArduPilot from source).

Quick Start

Autonomous Mode (Recommended)

The UAV automatically arms, takes off, and executes a mission:

cd ~/sim/uav_ugv_simulation
source activate_venv.sh

# Hover mission
bash scripts/run_autonomous.sh --mission hover

# Square pattern
bash scripts/run_autonomous.sh --mission square

# Circle pattern
bash scripts/run_autonomous.sh --mission circle

# WSL/Software rendering
bash scripts/run_autonomous.sh --software-render --mission hover

Manual Mode (MAVProxy)

bash scripts/run_simulation.sh
# Wait for EKF initialization (~15 seconds), then:
# mode guided
# arm throttle force
# takeoff 5

ROS 2 Mode

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
ros2 launch uav_ugv_simulation full_simulation.launch.py

Mission Types

Mission	Description
`hover`	Take off, hover for 30 seconds, land
`square`	Fly a 5m square pattern
`circle`	Fly a circular pattern

Navigation uses only relative positioning:

Visual odometry from cameras
Optical flow sensors
IMU integration
Local coordinate frames (NED)

GPS is ONLY used for geofencing (safety boundaries), NOT for navigation or position control.

Project Structure

uav_ugv_simulation/
├── setup.sh                    # Installation script
├── scripts/
│   ├── run_autonomous.sh       # Autonomous simulation
│   ├── run_simulation.sh       # Manual simulation
│   └── kill_simulation.sh      # Cleanup
├── src/
│   ├── control/                # UAV/UGV controllers
│   ├── vision/                 # Visual odometry, optical flow
│   ├── localization/           # EKF sensor fusion
│   ├── navigation/             # Path planning
│   └── safety/                 # Geofencing, failsafe
├── launch/                     # ROS 2 launch files
├── config/                     # Configuration files
├── models/                     # Gazebo models
└── worlds/                     # Gazebo worlds

Commands

Command	Description
`bash scripts/run_autonomous.sh`	Run autonomous simulation
`bash scripts/run_simulation.sh`	Run manual simulation
`bash scripts/kill_simulation.sh`	Kill all processes
`bash scripts/uninstall.sh`	Uninstall ArduPilot

Documentation

License

MIT License