Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
210 lines (138 loc) · 6.63 KB

mavros_installation.md

File metadata and controls

210 lines (138 loc) · 6.63 KB

ROS (1) with MAVROS Installation Guide

:::warning The PX4 development team recommend that all users upgrade to ROS 2. This documentation reflects the "old approach". :::

This documentation explains how to set up communication between the PX4 Autopilot and a ROS 1 enabled companion computer using MAVROS.

MAVROS is a ROS 1 package that enables MAVLink extendable communication between computers running ROS 1 for any MAVLink enabled autopilot, ground station, or peripheral. MAVROS is the "official" supported bridge between ROS 1 and the MAVLink protocol.

First we install PX4 and ROS, and then MAVROS.

Install ROS and PX4

This section explains how to install ROS 1 with PX4. ROS 1 full desktop builds come with Gazebo Classic, so normally you will not install the simulator dependencies yourself!

:::tip These instructions are a simplified version of the official installation guide. They cover the ROS Melodic and Noetic releases. :::

:::: tabs

:::tab ROS Noetic (Ubuntu 20.04)

If you're working with ROS Noetic on Ubuntu 20.04:

  1. Install PX4 without the simulator toolchain:

    1. Download PX4 Source Code:

      git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive

    2. Run the ubuntu.sh the --no-sim-tools (and optionally --no-nuttx):

      bash ./PX4-Autopilot/Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh --no-sim-tools --no-nuttx
      • Acknowledge any prompts as the script progress.

    3. Restart the computer on completion.

  2. You may need to install the following additional dependencies:

    sudo apt-get install protobuf-compiler libeigen3-dev libopencv-dev -y

  3. Follow the Noetic Installation instructions (ros-noetic-desktop-full is recommended).

:::

:::tab ROS Melodic (Ubuntu 18.04)

If you're working with ROS "Melodic on Ubuntu 18.04:

  1. Download the ubuntu_sim_ros_melodic.sh script in a bash shell:

    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PX4/Devguide/master/build_scripts/ubuntu_sim_ros_melodic.sh

  2. Run the script:

    bash ubuntu_sim_ros_melodic.sh

    You may need to acknowledge some prompts as the script progresses.

    ::: tip You don't need to install MAVROS (as shown below), as this is included by the script

    Also note:

    • ROS Melodic is installed with Gazebo (Classic) 9 by default.
    • Your catkin (ROS build system) workspace is created at ~/catkin_ws/.
    • The script uses instructions from the ROS Wiki "Melodic" Ubuntu page.

:::

::::

Install MAVROS

Then MAVROS can be installed either from source or binary. We recommend that developers use the source installation.

Binary Installation (Debian / Ubuntu)

The ROS repository has binary packages for Ubuntu x86, amd64 (x86_64) and armhf (ARMv7). Kinetic also supports Debian Jessie amd64 and arm64 (ARMv8).

Use apt-get for installation, where ${ROS_DISTRO} below should resolve to kinetic or noetic, depending on your version of ROS:

sudo apt-get install ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-mavros ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-mavros-extras ros-${ROS_DISTRO}-mavros-msgs

Then install GeographicLib datasets by running the install_geographiclib_datasets.sh script:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mavlink/mavros/master/mavros/scripts/install_geographiclib_datasets.sh
sudo bash ./install_geographiclib_datasets.sh

Source Installation

This installation assumes you have a catkin workspace located at ~/catkin_ws If you don't create one with:

mkdir -p ~/catkin_ws/src
cd ~/catkin_ws
catkin init
wstool init src

You will be using the ROS Python tools: wstool (for retrieving sources), rosinstall, and catkin_tools (building) for this installation. While they may have been installed during your installation of ROS you can also install them with:

sudo apt-get install python-catkin-tools python-rosinstall-generator -y

:::tip While the package can be built using catkin_make the preferred method is using catkin_tools as it is a more versatile and "friendly" build tool. :::

If this is your first time using wstool you will need to initialize your source space with:

$ wstool init ~/catkin_ws/src

Now you are ready to do the build:

  1. Install MAVLink:

    # We use the Kinetic reference for all ROS distros as it's not distro-specific and up to date
rosinstall_generator --rosdistro kinetic mavlink | tee /tmp/mavros.rosinstall

  2. Install MAVROS from source using either released or latest version:

    • Released/stable

      rosinstall_generator --upstream mavros | tee -a /tmp/mavros.rosinstall

    • Latest source

      rosinstall_generator --upstream-development mavros | tee -a /tmp/mavros.rosinstall
      # For fetching all the dependencies into your catkin_ws,
# just add '--deps' to the above scripts, E.g.:
#   rosinstall_generator --upstream mavros --deps | tee -a /tmp/mavros.rosinstall

  3. Create workspace & deps

    wstool merge -t src /tmp/mavros.rosinstall
wstool update -t src -j4
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -y

  4. Install GeographicLib datasets:

    ./src/mavros/mavros/scripts/install_geographiclib_datasets.sh

  5. Build source

    catkin build

  6. Make sure that you use setup.bash or setup.zsh from workspace.

    #Needed or rosrun can't find nodes from this workspace.
source devel/setup.bash

In the case of error, there are addition installation and troubleshooting notes in the mavros repo.

MAVROS Examples

The MAVROS Offboard Example (C++), will show you the basics of MAVROS, from reading telemetry, checking the drone state, changing flight modes and controlling the drone.

:::info If you have an example app using the PX4 Autopilot and MAVROS, we can help you get it on our docs. :::

See Also