UBC UAS ArduPilot SITL Docker Images

UASITL is a collection of docker images that can be used to run one or more ArduPilot SITL (software-in-the-Loop) simulators.

Connections

[ACOM/MissionPlanner/SkyLink]---<tcp/mavlink>---[UASITL]

Dependencies

• Docker

Installation

The images can be directly pulled from DockerHub:

Note

Replace X.X.X with the desired version number

ArduPlane (VTOL):

FOR x86: docker pull ubcuas/uasitl:plane-X.X.X
FOR arm: docker pull ubcuas/uasitl:plane-arm-X.X.X

ArduCopter (Quadcopter):

FOR x86: docker pull ubcuas/uasitl:copter-X.X.X
FOR arm: docker pull ubcuas/uasitl:copter-arm-X.X.X

The images can also be built locally:

Note

To build for ArduPlane, add --build-arg VEHICLE_TYPE=1 to the build command. Also change the tag to plane or plane-arm depending on the architecture.

./configure.sh
FOR x86: docker build --tag ubcuas/uasitl:copter-X.X.X --build-arg VERSION=X.X.X x86/ --platform "linux/amd64"
FOR armv7: docker build --tag ubcuas/uasitl:copter-arm-X.X.X --build-arg VERSION=X.X.X arm/ --platform "linux/arm/v7"
FOR arm64: docker build --tag ubcuas/uasitl:copter-arm-X.X.X --build-arg VERSION=X.X.X arm/ --platform "linux/arm64"

Note

If you get an error akin to ./configure.sh: line 2: $'\r': command not found then run sed 's/\r$//' configure.sh > configure.sh.new && mv configure.sh.new configure.sh to fix the line endings.

To build the armv7 and arm64 images on x86, you need to run the following commands:

./configure.sh
ArduCopter: ./crossBuild.sh copter X.X.X
ArduPlane: ./crossBuild.sh plane X.X.X

The image can be built using a custom Ardupilot repository:

./configure.sh
FOR x86: ARDUPILOT_REPO=git@gitlab.com:ubcuas/accupilot.git docker build --build-arg SSH_PRIVATE_KEY="$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" --tag ubcuas/uasitl:accupilot x86/
FOR arm: ARDUPILOT_REPO=git@gitlab.com:ubcuas/accupilot.git docker build --build-arg SSH_PRIVATE_KEY="$SSH_PRIVATE_KEY" --tag ubcuas/uasitl:accupilot arm/

Please note the bash variable $SSH_PRIVATE_KEY needs to be a valid ssh private key. If you are building on command line you can do this in one shot like so: --build-arg SSH_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa)". ARDUPILOT_REPO is an ssh git url to an ardupilot repository. WARNING: Building locally bakes your private SSH key into the docker image, do NOT share this image with others.

Usage

To launch a single ArduCopter SITL on host TCP port 5760, with the ability for the rest of our services to connect:

docker run --rm -p 5760-5780:5760-5780 -it --network=gcom-x_uasnet --name=uasitl ubcuas/uasitl:copter-X.X.X

To launch a single ArduCopter SITL on host TCP port 5760, with the ability for the rest of our services to connect, and with a custom parameter file located in the current directory:

Note

Docker volume mounts (-v option) needs absolute paths. ${PWD} is a Windows Powershell variable that expands to the current working directory. For Linux, use $(pwd) and for Command Prompt use %cd%.

docker run --rm -p 5760-5780:5760-5780 -it --network=gcom-x_uasnet --name=uasitl -v ${PWD}/custom-copter.param:/custom-copter.param --env PARAM_FILE=/custom-copter.param ubcuas/uasitl:copter-X.X.X --defaults=/ardupilot/Tools/autotest/default_params/copter.parm

To launch a single ArduCopter SITL on host TCP port 5760:

docker run --rm -p 5760-5780:5760-5780 -it --name=uasitl ubcuas/uasitl:copter-X.X.X

To start 3 ArduCopter SITLs on host TCP ports 5760, 5770 and 5780:

docker run --rm -p 5760-5780:5760-5780 --env NUMCOPTERS=3 -it --name=uasitl ubcuas/uasitl:copter-X.X.X

Troubleshooting

---

docker: Error response from daemon: network gcom-x_uasnet not found.

You need to create the network that the containers connect to. Starting up gcom-x will create the network. It can also manually be created using the command docker network create gcom-x_uasnet.

---

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running? or similar.

You need to run the docker commands as root. Use sudo: sudo docker <command>. Or add yourself to the docker group.

---

filename: line 2: $'\r': command not found

Run sed -i 's/\r$//' filename to fix the line endings.