Firefly with Vicon Tutorial

Pre-setup

  • Simulation: successfull test of your own controller on GAZEBO
  • Packages installed
    • Firefly OBC
      • asctec_mav_framework: framework for data aquisition and position control to be used with the highlevel (HL) processor of Ascending Technologies helicopters
      • MSF: Modular framework for multi sensor fusion based on an Extended Kalman Filter
      • Controller: in this tutorial, the gain-scheduling controller will be tested
    • Remote Computer
      • VRPN Client: connects to the Vicon server through the Virtual Reality Peripheral Network; provides position, orientation, velocity and angular velocity.
  • Power on
    • Asus router (WiFi network mrasl)
    • Netgear switch (2 TP-Link Wireless Access Points)
    • 2 Trendnet switches (Vicon cameras)
    • Firefly's FCU (flight control unit) with an ASCTEC battery fully charged (5000 mAh, 11.1V)
    • Firefly's On-Board Computer (OBC)
  • Vicon setup: see our Vicon page for more detail.

Network Setup

Remote monitoring and control the Firefly from a distance computer. In this tutorial, the desktop L5816-18 and the object firefly_blue are used.

IP address: the remote computer and the firefly have to be connected to the same network (MRASL). The firefly_blue IP is 192.168.1.12. For this tutorial assume that the remote computer IP is 192.168.1.4. You can check your IP address by typing ifconfig in a terminal.

Remote monitoring and control of the Firefly from a distance computer

  • Check the connectivity between the remote computer and the firefly_blue by running the following command in a remote computer terminal
    $ ping 192.168.1.12

  • To log into the Firefly's OBC we use the following commands

    $ ssh asctec@192.168.1.12

    This command will open a ssh channel to the firefly_blue (default password is asctec). If you are using the desktop L5816-18, you can also running the permanent alias $ connect_firefly_blue.

  • We will use the firefly_blue as the ROS master, by setting the ROS_MASTER_URI and ROS_IP variables to the drone's IP. To change the variables we use the following commands in the remote computer terminal

    $ export ROS_MASTER_URI=http://192.168.1.12:11311
$ export ROS_IP=192.168.1.4

    If you are using the desktop L5816-18, you can also running the permanent alias

    $ master_firefly_blue

Before your fly

Setting up the ROS environment: don't forget to run $ source devel/setup.bash in each terminal before continue with the following subsections. If you are using the the firefly_blue and the desktop L5816-18, you can also running the permanent alias $ gotien.

Firefly's OBC

  • If you want to implement your own controller, you should list and kill all default nodes on OBC by running the following commands
     $ rosnode list
 $ rosnode kill /AsctecProc
 $ rosnode kill /AutoPilot
  • Running /fcu, /mv_26805107 nodes (Asctec Framework HL interface) and /pose_sensor node (MSF, private name)
    $ roslaunch asc_hl_interface fcu.launch
$ roslaunch msf_updates viconpos_sensor.launch

Remote Computer

  • Running the /firefly_blue/vrpn_client node
    $ roslaunch ros_vrpn_client mrasl_vicon.launch
    This launch file is a copy of the original asl_vicon.launch, using for the firefly_blue object and the Vicon server IP 192.168.1.200
    <arg name="object_name" default="firefly_blue" />
<node ns="$(arg object_name)" name="vrpn_client" type="ros_vrpn_client" pkg="ros_vrpn_client" output="screen">
    <param name="vrpn_server_ip" value="192.168.1.200" />

After running these launch files, the /pose_sensor node may show this message (OBC terminal): Pose measurement throttling is on, dropping messagesto be below 50.000000 Hz.

Init the filter

Open a rqt GUI in a remote computer terminal by typing $ rqt

Verify running nodes

  • Menu Plugins/Topics/Topic Monitor: check filter input/output data
    • Filter input from Vicon: topic /firefly_blue/vrpn_client/raw_transform, 250Hz
    • Filter input from Firefly: topic /fcu/imu, 100Hz
    • Filter output: msf_core/pose or msf_core/odometry, 100Hz
  • Menu Plugins/Visualization/Plot: plot the position, velocity, ...
  • Menu Plugins/Introspection/Node Graph

Init the filter

  • Menu Plugins/Configuration/Dynamic Reconfigure
    • fcu/fcu: chose POSCTRL_OFF for position_control and STATE_EST_OFF for state_estimation
    • pose_sensor/pose_sensor: click on core_init_filter

  • Move the drone and check

After init the filter, the /pose_sensor node has to show a message (OBC terminal) as: initial measurement pos:[ 0.158259 0.0267092 0.754158] orientation: [0.998, 0.00129, 0.025, 0.0552] and some other messages.

Running the demos

Before running the controller

  • RVIZ and RQT
  • Check our Safety page
  • Remote control
  • Start the motors

Running the controller

  • Running the controller node by typing the following command in a Firefly's OBC terminal
    $ source devel/setup.bash
$ roslaunch gstf_control lqr_controller.launch
  • Menu Plugins/Introspection/Node Graph: check node
  • Check the data before active the controller Topic /firefly/command/motor_speed/angular_velocities and /firefly/command/motor_speed/normalized should have to be 0.0 for all components.
  • Active the controller: change the remote control to autopilot

Send the reference menu Plugins/Topics/Message Publisher

  • Add the topic /firefly/command/pose by using the button +
  • Change the value of pose/position/z to 0.5
  • Check the box to publish

Verify the result menu Plugins/Topics/Topic Monitor

  • Command: topic /firefly/command/motor_speed/angular_velocities and /firefly/command/motor_speed/normalized
  • Output:

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