Phase 2: ROS2 Integration¶

Connect ArduPilot to the ROS2 robotics ecosystem for programmable drone control.

Overview¶

Phase 1 taught you drone control through MAVProxy commands. Phase 2 bridges that knowledge to ROS2, the industry-standard robotics framework.

What changes:

Phase 1	Phase 2
Type commands manually	Write Python code
MAVProxy scripting	ROS2 nodes
Basic mission files	Programmable missions
2D map visualization	RViz 3D visualization
No data recording	ROS2 bag recording

What stays the same:

Same SITL simulator
Same Gazebo (optional)
Same drone behavior
Same MAVLink protocol underneath

What You'll Build¶

By the end of Phase 2:

Telemetry monitoring node
Flight control node (arm, takeoff, navigate, land)
Mission execution system with YAML configuration
RViz visualization with path and waypoint markers
Flight recording and replay capability

Prerequisites¶

Before starting Phase 2:

Phase 1 complete
SITL launches and accepts commands
Gazebo integration working (optional but recommended)
Comfortable with basic terminal operations

Tutorial Sections¶

Section	Title	Time
2.1	ROS2 Installation and Core Concepts	60 min
2.2	MAVROS Setup	45 min
2.3	Reading Drone Data	60 min
2.4	Controlling the Drone	90 min
2.5	Autonomous Mission Node	90 min
2.6	RViz Visualization	45 min
2.7	Recording and Replay	45 min

Total time: 8-10 hours

Technology Stack¶

Component	Version	Purpose
ROS2	Humble	Robotics middleware
MAVROS	2.x	MAVLink-ROS2 bridge
Python	3.10	Node development
RViz2	Humble	Visualization

From Phase 1 (already installed):

ArduPilot SITL (Copter 4.5.7)
Gazebo Harmonic
MAVProxy

Architecture¶

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                    │
│  ┌──────────┐       ┌──────────┐                   │
│  │  Gazebo  │◄─────►│   SITL   │                   │
│  │ (opt.)   │       │ ArduPilot│                   │
│  └──────────┘       └────┬─────┘                   │
│                          │                         │
│                     MAVLink                        │
│                          │                         │
│                    ┌─────▼─────┐                   │
│                    │  MAVROS   │                   │
│                    └─────┬─────┘                   │
│                          │                         │
│                   ROS2 Topics                      │
│            ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐           │
│            ▼             ▼             ▼           │
│     ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐       │
│     │ Your     │  │  RViz    │  │  rosbag  │       │
│     │ Nodes    │  │          │  │          │       │
│     └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘       │
│                                                    │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Workspace Structure¶

After completing Phase 2:

~/simtofly_ws/
├── ardupilot/              # From Phase 1
├── ardupilot_gazebo/       # From Phase 1
├── logs/                   # Flight recordings
├── missions/               # Mission files
├── scripts/                # Helper scripts
└── ros2_ws/
    ├── src/
    │   └── drone_control/  # Your ROS2 package
    │       ├── drone_control/
    │       │   ├── telemetry_node.py
    │       │   ├── flight_control.py
    │       │   ├── mission_node.py
    │       │   ├── path_publisher.py
    │       │   └── waypoint_markers.py
    │       ├── config/
    │       │   └── mission.yaml
    │       └── rviz/
    │           └── drone.rviz
    ├── build/
    ├── install/
    └── log/

Quick Reference¶

Launch Sequence¶

# Terminal 1: SITL
cd ~/simtofly_ws/ardupilot/ArduCopter
sim_vehicle.py -v ArduCopter --map --console

# Terminal 2: MAVROS
ros2 launch mavros apm.launch fcu_url:=udp://:14550@127.0.0.1:14555

# Terminal 3: Your nodes
ros2 run drone_control mission_node

Common Commands¶

# List topics
ros2 topic list

# Echo topic data
ros2 topic echo /mavros/state

# Call service
ros2 service call /mavros/cmd/arming mavros_msgs/srv/CommandBool "{value: true}"

# Record bag
ros2 bag record -o my_flight /mavros/state /mavros/local_position/pose

# Play bag
ros2 bag play my_flight

Success Criteria¶

Phase 2 is complete when you can:

Launch ROS2 + MAVROS + SITL stack
Read telemetry via Python subscriber
Control drone via Python (arm, fly, land)
Execute waypoint mission from YAML file
Visualize flight in RViz
Record and replay flight data

Getting Help¶

If you encounter issues:

Check troubleshooting section in relevant tutorial
Verify all previous sections completed successfully
Search existing issues on GitHub
Open new issue with:
Section you're on
Command that failed
Full error message
Output of ros2 topic list

Ready to Start?¶

Begin with 2.1 ROS2 Installation →

← Back to Home | Phase 1 Review