Given the increasing complexity of autonomous aerial vehicles (UAVs), also called drones, it is crucial to develop the related control software using appropriate tools that allow testing the applications on realistic virtual environments, in order to avoid crashes due to software errors and discover potential problems before the actual deployment.

At the Retis Laboratory we developed a simulation framework aimed at supporting the development and testing of UAV applications. The framework allows integrating different existing components (e.g. ground station, control platform, AUV modeling, graphic engine), providing support for real-time communication, hardware in the loop, multi-vehicle coordination, and virtual sensors for developing feeback control loops in the virtual enviroment.

Involved People

  • Luigi Pannocchi, PhD Student
  • Carmelo Di Franco, Affiliate Researcher
  • Mauro Marinoni, Technician
  • Giorgio Buttazzo, Full Professor

The project is available here on the ReTiS GitLab server.