Simulation in Real Conditions of Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance with PX4/Gazebo Platform

Design of UAV systems requires from advanced tools to analyse the system components and their interaction in real operational conditions. In this work, the authors present an approach to evaluate a LIDAR sensor and the capacity for navigation and obstacle avoidance in simulated situations using a real UAV platform. It uses available software for mission definition and execution in UAVs based on PixHawk flight controller and peripherals. The solution shows physical integration of the main types of sensors in UAV domain both for navigation and collision avoidance, and at the same time the use of powerful simulation models developed with Gazebo. Some illustrative results show the performance of this navigation and obstacle avoidance function using the simulated sensors and the control of the real UAV in realistic conditions.