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PX4 / PX4-Autopilot

PX4 Autopilot Software
https://px4.io
BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
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X-Plane SITL #11644

Open SafatKhan opened 5 years ago

SafatKhan commented 5 years ago

This is my first feature request ever, so please pardon my mistakes if I am doing something wrong.

I have been successful at setting up a HITL simulation using Pixhawk 4, PX4, QGroundControl and X-Plane 10. The problem is that the documentation for SITL states that X-Plane won't be supported in SITL mode.

Not only is X-Plane very popular, it also has a very respectable simulation fidelity. It even provides the tools to design your own aircraft. That is an amazing feature to have for people like us who are looking to build/test our own models.

Considering how PX SITL works with 3 other simulators (Gazebo, JMavSim & AirSim), why can't we have it work with X-Plane?

mhkabir commented 5 years ago

If you're willing to develop this feature and send a pull request, we would be very happy to bring it to upstream.

The main reason this doesn't exist yet is probably because no one else had this use case before.

SafatKhan commented 5 years ago

If you're willing to develop this feature and send a pull request, we would be very happy to bring it to upstream.

The main reason this doesn't exist yet is probably because no one else had this use case before.

I am still trying to learn/comprehend the PX4 code. Not to mention my coding skills, specifically c++, are terrible.

But truth be told, the greater challenge at this point is understanding how the PX4 SITL works under the hood. I've had an exchange about this issue with Julian Oes about this matter to try and understand why the X-Plane SITL was left out of the PX4 SITL. I am still not sure why what he said matters. Here's the link to that thread for anyone who is interested : https://px4.slack.com/archives/C629RE9H7/p1552487784067600

If I understood Julian's explanation correctly, then it looks like it should be possible to to alter the SITL code in a way such that it just takes the data stream from X-Plane (like in HITL mode) instead of attempting to simulate the sensors itself.

hamishwillee commented 5 years ago

Considering how PX SITL works with 3 other simulators (Gazebo, JMavSim & AirSim), why can't we have it work with X-Plane?

to try and understand why the X-Plane SITL was left out of the PX4 SITL

PX4 is an open source project. Developers who want functionality create and contribute that functionality for everyone to share. So it is not a matter that "X-Plane support was left out", but more that no one has yet decided they need the support enough to develop it. As an example, the PX4 dev team did not and do not "support Airsim" - this is something that Microsoft developed and made available. We do welcome feature requests, because sometimes the dev team or broader community will decide that the feature is needed and put their time into the work.

If I understood Julian's explanation correctly, then it looks like it should be possible to to alter the SITL code in a way such that it just takes the data stream from X-Plane (like in HITL mode) instead of attempting to simulate the sensors itself.

@julianoes Perhaps you can expand on this? XPlane HITL is a little odd in that it uses QGC to mediate the flow through to the vehicle, but otherwise I would have thought that XPlane must simulate all the needed drivers in order to work for HITL.

julianoes commented 5 years ago

I remember that a couple of years back X-Plane was only able to simulate at the attitude level, not at the sensor level. However, I might remember this all wrong or it might have changed by now, so the first step would be to figure out the interface on how to talk to X-Plane.

Starting of HITL used to be connected with QGC but I don't think that's supported by QGC anymore or something we want to build. A scripted startup like for Gazebo or jMAVSim is simpler anyway.

hamishwillee commented 5 years ago

Thanks @julianoes

I remember that a couple of years back X-Plane was only able to simulate at the attitude level, not at the sensor level. However, I might remember this all wrong or it might have changed by now, so the first step would be to figure out the interface on how to talk to X-Plane.

From what I'm hearing Safat is not sure he can do this, and I doubt you have bandwidth. Do you know anyone who has interest in maintaining/updating this?

Starting of HITL used to be connected with QGC but I don't think that's supported by QGC anymore or something we want to build. A scripted startup like for Gazebo or jMAVSim is simpler anyway.

The docs at least say that XPlane connection is still done via QGC: http://dev.px4.io/en/simulation/hitl.html#x-plane-hitl-environment. Those were produced and tested in just over a year ago (with aid of @dagar) so I suspect it has not been changed.

BUT I strongly agree a consistent scripted setup approach for XPlane too would be much better, bringing it into line with Gazebo and JMavsim

moreba1 commented 3 years ago

@SafatKhan Hi Is it possible to set the wind in x-plane for simulation?

SafatKhan commented 3 years ago

@moreba1

Yes. If you are talking about supplying it customized wind/weather data instead of whatever it may use as default, then yes, it is possible. Please read this : https://developer.x-plane.com/article/custom-wind-weather-in-x-plane-10/