Simulate and Deploy UAV Applications with Hardware-in-the-Loop Workflows - MathWorks

// Speakers
* Mihir Acharya, MathWorks
* Ronal George, MathWorks

Drones and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are safety critical systems where simulation and testing are essential for verifying control performance before conducting test flights. With the addition of expensive sensors and autonomous flight capabilities to the drones, simulation have become an important part of the aerial system design workflow. Integrating autopilots and onboard computers with simulations of plant models in various scenarios allow for early verification and validation of aerial system behavior and performance, which also reduces risk in latter flight-testing phases. This session will introduce workflows with MATLAB and Simulink to design flight controllers and autonomous algorithms and verify them in software-in-the-loop (SITL) to hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations using PX4 autopilots and onboard computers, incorporating UAV plant dynamics, sensor models, and visualization using 3D simulators. The workflow will explain how SITL and HITL simulation cab be utilized to evaluate UAV characteristics along with autonomous algorithm performance prior to flight testing.