Article Series

A total of two articles

Catalogue

QGroundControl and AirSim Integration Guide - Establishing STIL (Software-In-The-Loop)

QGroundControl and AirSim Integration Guide - Setting Up Ground Station Control for Virtual Aircraft

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Tip：AirSim、SITL、QGroundControl、PX4、Ardupilot

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Introduction

[AirSim] ←→ (TCP) ←→ [PX4 SITL(Software-In-The-Loop)] ←→ (UDP) ←→ [QGroundControl(QGC)]

This article explores how to achieve data transmission and control between AirSim, PX4 SITL, and QGroundControl. This architecture is designed for drone simulation environments, allowing developers to test flight control algorithms, navigation strategies, and automated flight plans in a virtual setting. It enables development and validation without requiring physical hardware.

AirSim ↔ PX4 SITL AirSim simulates the physical environment of the drone and connects to PX4 SITL via TCP, while PX4 SITL is used to simulate the PX4 flight controller.

PX4 SITL ↔ QGroundControll Through UDP communication, PX4 SITL sends MAVLink messages to QGroundControl for monitoring, while PX4 SITL allows QGroundControl to send flight commands (such as takeoff, landing, and navigation).

This architecture allows developers to simulate complete drone missions within a software environment, and further integrate AI, autonomous navigation, and image processing technologies to enhance the intelligence capabilities of drones. This article will provide a detailed guide on how to set up this system.

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Tips：Here is the main content of this article. The following examples are provided for reference.

一、WSL Ubuntu 22.04 Installation

• Installing WSL and Ubuntu 22.04 on Windows Open PowerShell (run as administrator) and enter the following command to install WSL and the latest Ubuntu distribution.

  wsl --install
  

• Update and Upgrade the System Enter the following command in the terminal to update the package list and upgrade the installed packages

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt upgrade -y
  

• WSL2 Virtual Network Interface Not Created Check if you have vEthernet (WSL)

Go to [Control Panel] >> [Network and Internet] > [View Network Status and Tasks] > [Change Adapter Settings] If there is no vEthernet, check if the WSL version is set to version 2.

wsl --list --verbose

You need to check if WSL is version 2. If not, it needs to be upgraded. Run the following in PowerShell:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux -NoRestart
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -NoRestart
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-All -NoRestart

Then, restart the system, open CMD, and enter the following command to upgrade to version 2:

wsl --set-version Ubuntu-22.04 2

After the upgrade is complete, you should be able to see vEthernet.

二、Install Python, pip, and Create a Virtual Environment

1.Install Python and pip

• Check Python Version

  python3 --version
  

• If Python is not installed or needs to be updated, run the following commands:

  sudo apt install python3
  sudo apt install python3-pi
  

  2.Set Up Python Virtual Environment

• 安裝 venv 模組

  sudo apt install python3-venv
  

• Create and Activate a Virtual Environment

  python3 -m venv px4env
  source px4env/bin/activate
  

三、Download PX4-Autopilot

git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot.git --recursive
cd PX4-Autopilot
git submodule update --init --recursive

四、Compile STIL (Software-In-The-Loop) for PX4

• Compile and Build SITL (Software-In-The-Loop) for PX4

  bash ./Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh
  make px4_sitl_default
  

• Relevant PX4 SITL (Software-In-The-Loop) Information
  • ⭐Gazebo Classic Simulation (Here are some make commands for building)
  • ⭐PX4 development environment on Windows 10 or 11

五、Install Packages and Resolve Dependency Errors

• Install the necessary dependencies for PX4

  make px4_sitl_default
  

• Install the system dependencies for PX4 Install the necessary Python modules in the virtual environment

  sudo apt install git zip qtbase5-dev libqt5opengl5-dev \
  python3-dev python3-pyqt5 python3-numpy python3-pip \
  python3-empy python3-toml python3-jinja2 python3-setuptools \
  ninja-build exiftool
  

• Common Errors and Solutions

error：ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'genmsg'

pip install pyros-genmsg

error：ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'em' error：AttributeError: module 'em' has no attribute 'RAW_OPT'

pip install empy==3.3.4

error：ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'menuconfig'

pip install kconfiglib

warning：Failed to import lxml module etree

sudo apt install libxml2 libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev
pip install lxml

六、Start SITL

Setting PX4 Host IP

vim .bashrc
export PX4_SIM_HOST_ADDR=172.17.144.1

Start SITL

make px4_sitl_default none_iris

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Summary

PX4 SITL provides a powerful drone flight control simulation environment, allowing developers to test flight control algorithms, navigation strategies, and integration with ground stations (QGroundControl) or AI systems (MAVSDK) without the need for physical hardware. Through TCP/UDP communication, SITL can interact with simulators such as AirSim, Gazebo, or others, enabling virtual testing and validation.