Starting from the results obtained during a previous MIT Independent Activity Period (IAP) at the University of Sannio [1], in this project we propose to test and validate the functionalities offered by the open-source software architecture CrazyS [2] through experiments on the real platform.

Based on the ROS (Robot Operating System) multi-rotors simulator RotorS [3], CrazyS (Figure 2) aims to simulate the behavior of the Crazyflie 2.0 nano-quadrotor (Figure 1) in a scenario quite close to reality (currently, robotics simulators are a widely used tool in robotics) considering both low and high level control algorithms and the vehicle sensors models (i.e., accelerometer and gyroscope). Such platform has been developed as a testbench for evaluating the controller performance before deploying it on the real device when the algorithm interacts with complex dynamics systems, such as quadrotors, and the surrounding environment.

The working program is described as follows:

· During the first week, the student will acquire all necessary information to start working with the simulation platform, the mathematical model behind the software architecture (e.g., drone model, the state observer, etc.), ROS and the software packages needed for exchanging data and commands with the Crazyflie 2.0.

· In the second week, the student will work together with the UniSannio team to adapt the current CrazyS version to the latest nano-quadrotor firmware release, thus preparing the hardware for real tests. At this stage, the attention will move on the controller and the state observer design trying to improve the performance for the considered use case.

· Finally, the student will collect the data coming from the real device trying to compare those obtained from the simulated scenario understanding when and how the software architecture reflects the drone behavior and the possibility of simulating more than one vehicle expanding the features offered by the software architecture. In this phase real experiments will be conducted in our drone arena, where we plane to use an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) system, i.e., the Loco Positioning System [4], for retrieving the drone position and orientation during the flight.

References

[1] G. Silano, E. Aucone, and L. Iannelli, “CrazyS: A Software-In-The-Loop Platform for the Crazyflie 2.0 Nano-Quadcopter,” in 2018 26th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED), pp. 352–357, June 2018, Zadar, Croatia.

[2] G. Silano and L. Iannelli, “CrazyS: a software-in-the-loop simulation platform for the Crazyflie 2.0 nano-quadcopter,” in “Robot Operating System (ROS): The Complete Reference (Volume 4),” A. Koubaa, Ed. , Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 81–115, 2020.

[3] F. Furrer, M. Burri, M. Achtelik, and R. Siegwart, “RotorS – A Modular Gazebo MAV Simulator Framework,” in Robot Operating System (ROS): The Complete Reference (Volume 1), K. Anis, Ed. Springer International Publishing, 2016, pp. 595–625.

[4] Bitcraze AB, “Loco Positioning System store website”, [Online] Available: https://www.bitcraze.io/loco-pos-system/, August 2019.

The team

The project will be developed in a team including the PhD student Giuseppe Silano and the professor Luigi Iannelli.

Keywords

• CrazyS: https://github.com/gsilano/CrazyS
• RotorS: https://github.com/ethz-asl/rotors_simulator
• ROS: https://www.ros.org/about-ros/
• Crazyflie: https://www.bitcraze.io/