How to change Home Location on ArduPilot SITL simulation?

After setting up the ArduPilot’s Software In The Loop (SITL) simulation environment on your device, you can able to simulate the behavior of your desired vehicle type present in the ArduPilot’s firmware.¹ The ArduPilot supported vehicle type includes,

• Multicopter (ArduCopter)
• Fixed-Wing (ArduPlane)
• Submarine (ArduSub)
• Rover (Rover)

ArduPilot - Directory

You can able to simulate the desired vehicle by navigating to the respective vehicle folder present in the ardupilot directory. Each time the following location will be selected as the default by the ArduPilot SITL when you try to simulate the desired vehicle from the ArduPilot firmware.

Even though changing the location in the SITL doesn’t affect the vehicle’s behavior, there will be a requirement to change the location of the simulation in some cases. You can able to change the home location of the SITL simulation on your device in that case.

Changing Home Location on SITL

To start the simulator, change the directory to the vehicle directory.[^fn-nth-2] For example, to simulate the multi-copter, change the directory to ardupilot/ArduCopter, by executing the following command on your terminal:

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$ cd ardupilot/ArduCopter

You can also open the terminal window using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + T

Then start the simulator by executing the sim_vehicle.py.

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$ sim_vehicle.py --console --map

ArduPilot - SITL

The above action will lead to starting the simulation of the copter in the default location. But to start the simulation at a particular home location, you need to call the sim_vehicle.py with the -L parameter and a named location in the ardupilot/Tools/autotest/locations.txt file.

For example, to start Copter in Unalga (a named location in locations.txt), execute the following command on your terminal. But, Before that, kill the sim_vehicle.py you are already running, using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + C and then:

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$ sim_vehicle.py -L Unalga --console --map

Adding New Locations

Also, you can add a new location to the SITL simulation environment by updating the locations.txt file.

For example, if you want to add a location named Backyard, then add the Backyard’s Latitude, Longitude, Mean Sea Level, and Heading to the locations.txt file.

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Unalga=51.578,-179.0483,42.0,270.0
Backyard=51.578,-179.0483,42.0,270.0

By adding your location on the last line of the locations.txt file, you can now able to call this location on your SITL by executing the following command on your terminal. But, Before that, kill the sim_vehicle.py you are already running:

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$ sim_vehicle.py -L Backyard --console --map

Yay, now you’ve learned to change the home location of your simulated vehicle on ArduPilot SITL simulation!!!

List of available Locations in SITL

The following is the list of already available locations present in the locations.txt file, adding for your reference:

Source: locations.txt

Conclusion

In this article, I’ve tried to explain how to change the home location on the ArduPilot’s Software In the Loop (SITL) simulation. I’m expectantly waiting for your valuable feedback and suggestions regarding this topic.

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References