PX4 Sync / Q&A: May 15, 2024

rroche · May 15, 2024, 3:07pm

Agenda

Announcements
Release Discussion
Q&A

Announcements

Congratulations to @Jaeyoung-Lim for winning the “Best Workshop Paper Award” at ICRA 2024

Merging the two weekly calls
Starting this week, we have decided to merge the two weekly calls to streamline our coordination and community duties.

Release Discussion

Last Call for Release v1.15
Please mark issues and PRs accordingly. We plan to release it by June 12th, 2024.

Project Board for Tracking Release

Project’s Release Cadence
Discussion about smaller cadence and predictability
Strict schedule on when this happens

Alternating Release Objectives

Feature Release focused
Issue and Performance focused

Steps (12 x Week Schedule?)

Planning
Review target milestones
Feature Freeze
Release

How to review Project Board progress

Triage bugs
- Bugs without priority
- Unassigned bugs
- Issues without category
Review backports
Review release progress

Q&A

VOXL 2 Board specific Shutdown Hook

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

Added a VOXL 2 board specific shutdown hook to run on exit

PX4:main ← PX4:pr-kill-slpi-on-exit

opened 09:27PM - 13 May 24 UTC

katzfey

+52 -13

### Solved Problem If the apps processor side of PX4 running on VOXL 2 exits th…e DSP side continues on. If PX4 is then restarted it will fail because the DSP side will still be running the old instance. This PR will send a new custom kill command to the DSP to reset it and get it back into it's ready state. This is done within a shutdown hook that's installed on px4 start up.

[draft] Space Support for PX4 by @Pedro-Roque

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

Spacecraft Support: adding modules for Space Robotics and Thruster Based platforms

PX4:main ← DISCOWER:dev-merge_upstream

opened 06:37PM - 09 May 24 UTC

Pedro-Roque

+6732 -51

### Solved Problem This PR addresses support on PX4 for Spacecrafts or other sp…ace systems that use Thrusters as their main actuators. These are particularly relevant for space robotics applications. Modules for control (with appendix sc_ ) and Thruster actuation compatibility were added. This PR aims at integrating these additions, which will soon be published and updated on the source code, into the PX4 ecosystem to support space robotics facilities. ### Solution - Add rate control, attitude control and position control for spacecraft-type vehicles (prefixed with ac_) - Add Thruster Effectiveness in the control allocation module - Add 2 simulation and one hardware airframes using these new modules ### Changelog Entry For release notes: ``` Feature/Bugfix XYZ New parameter: XYZ_Z Documentation: Need to clarify page ... / done, read docs.px4.io/... ``` ### Alternatives Reusing multicopter code. However, there are multiple problems associated with it: 1. Their actuation is not the same leading to different effectiveness models 2. Their PWM cycle is different than thruster-based platforms, which typically use solenoid-based valves 3. Their control can be different to take advantage of the lack of gravity 4. Their estimator is different since their model is, too ### Test coverage To-Do - Unit/integration test: ... - Simulation/hardware testing logs: https://review.px4.io/ ### Context Currently being integrated in https://github.com/DISCOWER/PX4-Space-Systems/tree/dev-metric_control_allocator, as part of the [DISCOWER](https://discower.io/) project (a publication documenting this contribution as well as the entire lab facilities will be published by the end of August). Pictures and videos will be added soon. Continued from https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/pull/23098

Septentrio Driver Updates

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

GPS: Extract Septentrio Driver Into Separate Module

PX4:main ← flyingthingsintothings:pr-extract-septentrio-driver

opened 09:25AM - 19 Mar 24 UTC

flyingthingsintothings

+2591 -48

### Solved Problem Making changes to the PX4 GPS drivers was hard because new features needed to be implemented for every driver. This isn't possible for most people as they don't have access to the hardware required for testing. During the previous PX4 community Q&A on Discord (2024-03-13), I discussed with @dagar what the options were to simplify this. The solution that was proposed was to separate all the drivers as they all want to specialize more than originally planned. This would allow the drivers to have their own parameters and implement features more rapidly. It would also simplify testing, as people who want to implement a new feature only need access to the hardware for a single driver. Fixes \/ ### Solution - Extract the Septentrio GPS driver out of the submodule into its own directory, included in the PX4 autopilot repository. ### Changelog Entry For release notes: ``` Feature/Bugfix XYZ New parameter: XYZ_Z Documentation: Need to clarify page ... / done, read docs.px4.io/... ``` ### Alternatives We could also ... ### Test coverage - Unit/integration test: ... - Simulation/hardware testing logs: https://review.px4.io/ ### Manual Testing - Pixhawk 6C & mosaic-go heading: - Automatic GNSS receiver configuration works - Position shows up in QGroundControl - Number of reported satellites is correct - Corrections from base station, forwarded by QGroundControl work - Automatic startup of driver works - Connection to receiver is stable and doesn't drop - `status` command works - Driver start and stop work ### Context - [Forum post about developer call where this was discussed](https://discuss.px4.io/t/px4-community-q-a-march-13-2024/37190) - [Original idea to split up driver](https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/pull/22874#issuecomment-1992516897) - [Teseo GPS driver used as reference](https://github.com/AlexKlimaj/PX4-Autopilot/tree/60a14ce240a09855e4ddf5e9690ca20a46e34aa2/src/drivers/teseo_gps) - Other drivers in the PX4 autopilot repository were used as a guide (barometer, distance sensor...) because they are also split into separate drivers.

Parameter to always start MAVLink on USB

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

[mavlink] Parameter to always start on USB

PX4:main ← dakejahl:pr-force_mavlink_usb

opened 06:34PM - 17 Oct 23 UTC

dakejahl

+1010 -27

Added parameter and logic to always start mavlink on USB instead of auto-detecti…ng the protocol. The mavlink mode can now be selected as well. I also refactored the code into a module and moved it into the LP px4 work queue. I refactored everything into functions and a state machine. Added parameters SYS_USB_AUTO USB_MAV_MODE **The problem being solved** When running mavlink-router on a companion computer, no data will be routed until a GCS connects. This is because in typical mavlink-router configuration there is only one `Server` endpoint which corresponds to the GCS. The GCS will send a heartbeat over the mavlink network which triggers the FMU to start mavlink on USB. **PX4 Behavior before PR** PX4 waits to receive data on USB and auto-detects the protocol (mavlink, nsh, ublox serial passthru). **PX4 Behavior after PR** SYS_USB_AUTO is set to Mavlink by default. The mavlink instance will be started as soon as USB is available rather than wait and auto-detect the protocol. This is better default behavior for users and end products. **How it was tested** ARK Jetson (v6x) : Validated `mavlink-routerd` initates comms after immediately receiving data on USB. Pixhawk4 (v5): Validated connection to QGC, picocom, and u-center - [x] (SYS_USB_AUTO=2) Start mavlink - [x] (SYS_USB_AUTO=1) Detect mavlink - [x] (SYS_USB_AUTO=1) Detect nsh - [x] (SYS_USB_AUTO=1) Detect ublox Closes #20631

Check if PX4 is Logging

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

[HealthCheck] Logger (is_logging?)

PX4:main ← PX4:pr-logging_status

opened 12:29AM - 21 Feb 24 UTC

dakejahl

+136 -6

### Solved Problem I have a piece of companion software that automatically down…loads flight logs from the vehicle over mavlink and uploads them to a server. I need to know when the logger is running or not so that I don't try to download a log file which is being actively written to (results in a partial log download and repeated downloads). ### Solution The mavlink SYS_STATUS message can tell us if the logger is running or not. We just need to check the LoggerStatus in the health and arming checks and set the MAV_SYS_STATUS_LOGGING bit.

KConfig for minimal functionality
For running MAVLink on a CAN Node

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

[mavlink] KConfig for minimal functionality (flash savings)

PX4:main ← dakejahl:pr-mavlink-minimal

opened 02:23AM - 26 Mar 24 UTC

dakejahl

+695 -5

Added the KConfig option `MAVLINK_MINIMAL` and `MAVLINK_MSG_SELECT`. Using `MAVL…INK_MSG_SELECT` requires specifying KConfig options `MAVLINK_<message_name>` to enable the mavlink message in the `streams_list`. This follows the same pattern as the `uavcannode` for including message streams. The `MAVLINK_MINIMAL` option disables the message handlers for incoming mavlink data and thus disables functionalities that rely on bidirectional communication. This "minimal" version of the mavlink module simply sends out mavlink messages. **Problem being solved** The mavlink module is pretty heavy, and a lot of the flash usage comes from the message handlers for sending and receiving. The ARK Flow has a UART on the debug connection that we can use to send mavlink OPTICAL_FLOW_RAD messages to systems that don't have CAN (e.g voxl2). See new build target ``` make ark_can-flow_serial ``` **TODO** - [ ] Figure out a better way to specify the streaming message set rather than the "mode". The pre-defined modes (normal, config, etc) are restrictive and don't give the flexibility to specify the messages or their rates. Tested successfully https://github.com/dakejahl/mavlink-cpp/blob/master/examples/listener/listener.cpp#L36-L38 **Before** ``` Memory region Used Size Region Size %age Used flash: 534457 B 448 KB 116.50% sram: 16604 B 192 KB 8.45% ``` **After** ``` [4/7] Linking CXX executable ark_can-flow_default.elf Memory region Used Size Region Size %age Used flash: 441109 B 448 KB 96.15% sram: 15804 B 192 KB 8.04% ``` - CONFIG_MAVLINK_MINIMAL -- **58.4KB savings** - CONFIG_MAVLINK_MSG_SELECT && CONFIG_MAVLINK_OPTICAL_FLOW_RAD -- **35.8KB savings** By simply adding this to the default.px4board ``` CONFIG_MODULES_MAVLINK=y CONFIG_MAVLINK_MINIMAL=y CONFIG_MAVLINK_MSG_SELECT=y CONFIG_MAVLINK_OPTICAL_FLOW_RAD=y ```

MacOS Build Issues with Python dependencies

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

[Bug] Recent changes to homebrew cmake and python defaults break dev environment

opened 05:42PM - 29 Apr 24 UTC

saosebastiao

bug-report

### Describe the bug Homebrew now defaults to installing Python 3.12, which b…reaks the PX4 MacOS dev environment. [Homebrew now follows PEP-668](https://docs.brew.sh/Homebrew-and-Python#pep-668-python312-and-virtual-environments) regarding virtual environments. This means that it is expected to use virtual environments like `venv` or `pipx` in order to manage dependencies. PX4 should adopt these standards regardless, as there are many reasons why using global or user level dependencies instead of project level dependencies is a bad idea. And to clarify, this means that the steps to [manually install dependencies in the official documentation](https://docs.px4.io/main/en/dev_setup/dev_env_mac.html) are broken, as well as the `Tools/setup/macos.sh` script. ### To Reproduce using homebrew: ``` brew tap PX4/px4 brew install px4-dev python3 -m pip install --user pyserial empty toml numpy pandas jinja2 pyyaml pyros-genmsg packaging kconfiglib future jsonschema make px4_sitl ``` ### Expected behavior Build should succeed ### Screenshot / Media On `python3 -m pip install --user pyserial empty toml numpy pandas jinja2 pyyaml pyros-genmsg packaging kconfiglib future` the following error message is give: ``` error: externally-managed-environment × This environment is externally managed ╰─> To install Python packages system-wide, try brew install xyz, where xyz is the package you are trying to install. If you wish to install a Python library that isn't in Homebrew, use a virtual environment: python3 -m venv path/to/venv source path/to/venv/bin/activate python3 -m pip install xyz If you wish to install a Python application that isn't in Homebrew, it may be easiest to use 'pipx install xyz', which will manage a virtual environment for you. You can install pipx with brew install pipx You may restore the old behavior of pip by passing the '--break-system-packages' flag to pip, or by adding 'break-system-packages = true' to your pip.conf file. The latter will permanently disable this error. If you disable this error, we STRONGLY recommend that you additionally pass the '--user' flag to pip, or set 'user = true' in your pip.conf file. Failure to do this can result in a broken Homebrew installation. Read more about this behavior here: <https://peps.python.org/pep-0668/> note: If you believe this is a mistake, please contact your Python installation or OS distribution provider. You can override this, at the risk of breaking your Python installation or OS, by passing --break-system-packages. hint: See PEP 668 for the detailed specification. WARNING: Skipping /opt/homebrew/lib/python3.12/site-packages/numpy-1.26.4.dist-info due to invalid metadata entry 'name' ``` ### Flight Log N/A ### Software Version `main` ### Flight controller sitl ### Vehicle type None ### How are the different components wired up (including port information) _No response_ ### Additional context _No response_

Add fuel tank support (needs review) @TSC21

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

Add fuel tank status support

PX4:main ← PX4:add_fuel_status_support

opened 03:26PM - 15 May 24 UTC

TSC21

+322 -2

### Solved Problem Implemented support for fuel tank status reporting via MAVLi…nk using the new `FUEL_STATUS` message. ### Solution - Added support to DroneCAN `FuelTankStatus` messages - Added `fuel_tank_status` uORB message - Added `FUEL_STATUS` MAVLink stream - Added `UAVCAN_ECU_MAXF` parameter to define max fuel tank capacity Note that https://github.com/mavlink/mavlink/pull/2112 needs to be merged as well. This validated the implementation in https://github.com/mavlink/mavlink/pull/2107. ### Changelog Entry For release notes: ``` New Feature: Added support for fuel tank status reporting via MAVLink. New parameter: UAVCAN_ECU_MAXF ``` ### Alternatives Data currently is fetched from DroneCAN, but can also be generated through an ECU driver in PX4. ### Test coverage None. ### Context - MAVLink PR bringing support to `FUEL_STATUS`: https://github.com/mavlink/mavlink/pull/2107 - [FuelTankStatus DroneCAN message DSDL](https://github.com/dronecan/DSDL/blob/master/uavcan/equipment/ice/1129.FuelTankStatus.uavcan)

EKF2: EV vel/pos only use EV q if enabled and valid

How to backport NuttX changes? by @TOTON95

Get commits into NuttX Upstream
Send a PR to PX4 NuttX Fork
If it cleanly applies ask for a review

Rogue submodule found @MaEtUgR

github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot

[Bug] Recursive submodule jsbsim_bridge/Rascal not available

opened 12:11PM - 13 May 24 UTC

Midren

bug-report [Dev Call] ✅ Discussed

### Describe the bug https://github.com/Auterion/FlightGear-Rascal repository …is absent, but needed for the compilation ### To Reproduce Build the px4: ``` $ git clone https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot /opt/px4 && cd /opt/px4 && git checkout v1.14.2 && make submodulesclean && make submodulesupdate && pip3 install --user kconfiglib empy pyros-genmsg jsonschema toml packaging future jinja2 && bash Tools/setup/ubuntu.sh --no-nuttx && DONT_RUN=1 make -j$(nproc) px4_sitl_default gazebo ``` See error: ``` 16 59.73 fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such device or address #16 59.74 fatal: clone of 'https://github.com/Auterion/FlightGear-Rascal.git' into submodule path '/opt/px4/Tools/simulation/jsbsim/jsbsim_bridge/models/Rascal' failed #16 59.74 Failed to clone 'models/Rascal'. Retry scheduled #16 59.97 fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such device or address #16 59.97 fatal: clone of 'https://github.com/Auterion/FlightGear-Rascal.git' into submodule path '/opt/px4/Tools/simulation/jsbsim/jsbsim_bridge/models/Rascal' failed #16 59.97 Failed to clone 'models/Rascal' a second time, aborting ``` Link to https://github.com/Auterion/FlightGear-Rascal also shows that repository does not exist ### Expected behavior Build px4 ### Screenshot / Media _No response_ ### Flight Log None ### Software Version Tested on 1.14.2, 1.13.2 ### Flight controller SImulation ### Vehicle type None ### How are the different components wired up (including port information) _No response_ ### Additional context _No response_