Usage

Specifications

Component	Version	Dependencies
Flight Controller	ArduPilot Copter 4.3	ArduPilot
Communication Protocol	MAVLink 2.0	pymavlink 2.4.37
Edge Runtime	Ubuntu 22.04	Python 3.10
Vision Backend	YOLOv8	OpenCV(v4), PyTorch (v2.7)
UI Framework	PySide6	QFluentWidgets

Note

Hardware Requirements: CUDA-enabled GPU for vision processing, 8 GB RAM minimum.

Installation

1. Clone the repository (uses Git submodules):

   git clone https://github.com/amar-jay/nebula.git --recursive
   

2. Setup ArduPilot:

   • Follow ArduPilot Linux setup guide

   • Follow Gazebo and GStreamer setup guide

3. Install OpenCV (if not already installed - preferably from source):

   sudo apt-get install libopencv-dev python3-opencv
   

3. Run setup script:

   make setup
   

3. Install Python packages (package version might be incompatible with your system, use virtual environment, and adjust package versions if needed):

   python3 -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate
   pip install --upgrade pip
   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

4. Set Environment Variables:

   make set_env_vars
   

5. Build src/ardupilot_gazebo using CMake (optional if not working in simulation):

   cd src/ardupilot_gazebo
   mkdir build
   cd build
   cmake ..
   make -j4
   cd ../../../..
   

Running the Simulation

1. Start simulation:

   make run_sim
   

2. Launch Control Station:

   make app
   

3. Launch Controls (optional):

   make sim_server  # for real drone use `make server`