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

Navigation: All vehicles navigate using relative positioning only:

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

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

Requirements

Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 (WSL2 supported)
16GB RAM recommended
50GB disk space

Installation

git clone https://git.sirblob.co/SirBlob/simulation.git
cd simulation
bash setup.sh

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

Quick Start

cd ~/simulation
source activate_venv.sh
bash scripts/run_simulation.sh

For WSL with graphics issues:

bash scripts/run_simulation.sh --software-render

Controlling the UAV

Once the simulation is running, use MAVProxy commands in the console:

mode guided      # Switch to GUIDED mode
arm throttle     # Arm the drone
takeoff 5        # Takeoff to 5 meters
guided 10 5 -10  # Fly to position (North, East, Down)
rtl              # Return to launch
land             # Land

Or via ROS 2:

# Arm
ros2 service call /mavros/cmd/arming mavros_msgs/srv/CommandBool "{value: true}"

# Takeoff
ros2 service call /mavros/cmd/takeoff mavros_msgs/srv/CommandTOL "{altitude: 5}"

# Fly to position (local coordinates)
ros2 topic pub /mavros/setpoint_position/local geometry_msgs/PoseStamped \
  "{header: {frame_id: 'map'}, pose: {position: {x: 10, y: 5, z: 5}}}"

Simulation Options

# Default
bash scripts/run_simulation.sh

# Custom world
bash scripts/run_simulation.sh --world iris_runway

# Rover instead of copter
bash scripts/run_simulation.sh --vehicle Rover

# Software rendering (WSL)
bash scripts/run_simulation.sh --software-render

Uninstall

bash scripts/uninstall.sh         # Remove ArduPilot and plugin
bash scripts/uninstall.sh --all   # Remove everything

README.md

UAV-UGV Simulation

GPS-Denied Navigation