Integrated UAV Simulation Workflows Combining MATLAB + PX4 Ecosystem - Mihir Acharya & Ronal George

Safe drone operations require thorough simulation testing before real flights. This involves simulating and visualizing the drone's response to different scenarios to assess the robustness of its controller and autonomy algorithms. However, creating these simulation environments can be challenging and time-consuming. At the PX4 Developer Summit 2022, we introduced workflows to integrate the PX4 autopilot with MATLAB and Simulink. This allows developers to use built-in library of simulation models and UAV algorithms from MATLAB and verifying them on the PX4 autopilot through SITL and HITL simulations. In this session, we will show how you can simulate an off-the-shelf drone in Simulink and deploy flight controllers directly from Simulink to the PX4 autopilot and verify the performance in HITL mode while running the plant model either in Simulink or deployed on a high-speed computing platform. We will also show a workflow that enables safe flight tests within a controlled lab environment and the ability to inject noise into simulations, preparing drones for worst-case scenarios like GPS failure.