What It Is
A fully Dockerized ROS 2 Jazzy / Gazebo Harmonic simulation environment for GPS-denied VTOL navigation. A tethered quad-tailsitter drone navigates through tunnels and canyons using only a fiber optic cable spool sensor (scalar velocity) and a monocular camera (direction of motion).
Results
PX4 SITL – Canyon Mission (3.3km, 10 minutes)
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Mean position error | 0.85 m |
| Max position error | 1.94 m |
| Drift rate | 0.06 m per 1000m |
| Speed RMSE (fusion vs GT) | 0.133 m/s |
Long Distance (20km)
| Method | Position Error | vs IMU |
|---|---|---|
| Fiber + Vision | 952m (4.8%) | 12x better |
| IMU-only | 11,979m (60%) | – |
Key finding: fiber + vision drift is linear vs quadratic for IMU-only. Viable for GPS-denied long-distance navigation.
Key Features
- Full PX4 integration – custom airframe, EKF2 fusion, 7-state VTOL navigation mode
- Real terrain – SRTM DEM heightmaps with satellite imagery (Negev desert 6x6km)
- Cable dynamics – virtual fiber force model (drag, weight, friction, breakage) via Gazebo wrench
- 330+ tests – unit, integration, SITL benchmarks, terrain pipeline
- One-command launch – fully Dockerized with GPU-accelerated Gazebo rendering
Stack
C++23 ROS 2 Jazzy PX4 SITL Gazebo Harmonic Docker Compose