Show HN: I wrote a multicopter simulation library in Python

3 pointshazrmard2y ago4 comments

Documentation: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Source code: https://github.com/hazrmard/multirotor

Demo/Quickstart: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Quickstart.html

There are many simulation libraries out there. For example AirSim using Unreal Engine, several implementations in Unity3D, Matlab toolboxes. I wanted a simple hackable codebase with which to experiment.

So, I wrote this. Propellers, motors, batteries, airframe are their own components and can be mixed and matched. The code lets you create any number of propellers, and an optimization function learns a PID controller for that vehicle. Additionally, there are convenience functions to visualize in 3D and sensor measurements.

Please let me know what you think :)

4 comments

westurner2y ago

Could it output drones for existing sims?

X-Plane Plane Maker: https://developer.x-plane.com/manuals/planemaker/

Juno: New Origins (and also Hello Engineer)

MS Flight Simulator cockpits are built with MSFS Avionics Framework which is React-based: https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Introduction/SDK_Overv...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37619564 :

> [Multi-objective gym + MuJoCo] for drone simulation

> Idea: Generate code like BlenderGPT to generate drone rover sim scenarios and environments like the Moon and Mars

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36052833 :

> awesome finite element analysis https://www.google.com/search?q=awesome+finite+element+analy...

Also: awesome-cfd

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31049608 :

> Numerical methods in fluid mechanics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_methods_in_fluid_mec...

hazrmardOP2y ago

Re: X-plane output. As it stands, no. But I believe a translation script can be made to output the vehicle's properties into a different format. Currently it is a python dataclass.

Thank you for linking to other resources. I will take a look at them.

westurner2y ago

Np. Interesting field.

"How to create an aircraft [for MS Flight Simulator]" https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/mergedProjects/How_To_...

Gymnasium w/ MuJoCo or similar would probably be most worthwhile in terms of research,

GlTF: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlTF

/? gltf msfs https://www.google.com/search?q=gltf+msfs

https://github.com/AsoboStudio/glTF-Blender-IO-MSFS :

> Microsoft Flight Simulator glTF 2.0 Importer and Exporter for Blender

MSFS docs on the Blender plugin: https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Asset_Creation/Blender...

There must be fluid simulation in MSFS and XPlane because they model helicopter flight characteristics.

I don't think either model things like solar thermal effect upon wings' material properties yet.

westurner2y ago

* Documentation: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

* Source code: https://github.com/hazrmard/multirotor

* Demo/Quickstart: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Quickstart.html

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

Show HN: I wrote a multicopter simulation library in Python

3 pointshazrmard2y ago4 comments

Documentation: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Source code: https://github.com/hazrmard/multirotor

Demo/Quickstart: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Quickstart.html

Please let me know what you think :)

4 comments

westurner2y ago

Could it output drones for existing sims?

X-Plane Plane Maker: https://developer.x-plane.com/manuals/planemaker/

Juno: New Origins (and also Hello Engineer)

MS Flight Simulator cockpits are built with MSFS Avionics Framework which is React-based: https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Introduction/SDK_Overv...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37619564 :

> [Multi-objective gym + MuJoCo] for drone simulation

> Idea: Generate code like BlenderGPT to generate drone rover sim scenarios and environments like the Moon and Mars

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36052833 :

> awesome finite element analysis https://www.google.com/search?q=awesome+finite+element+analy...

Also: awesome-cfd

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31049608 :

> Numerical methods in fluid mechanics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_methods_in_fluid_mec...

hazrmardOP2y ago

Re: X-plane output. As it stands, no. But I believe a translation script can be made to output the vehicle's properties into a different format. Currently it is a python dataclass.

Thank you for linking to other resources. I will take a look at them.

westurner2y ago

Np. Interesting field.

"How to create an aircraft [for MS Flight Simulator]" https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/mergedProjects/How_To_...

Gymnasium w/ MuJoCo or similar would probably be most worthwhile in terms of research,

GlTF: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlTF

/? gltf msfs https://www.google.com/search?q=gltf+msfs

https://github.com/AsoboStudio/glTF-Blender-IO-MSFS :

> Microsoft Flight Simulator glTF 2.0 Importer and Exporter for Blender

MSFS docs on the Blender plugin: https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Asset_Creation/Blender...

There must be fluid simulation in MSFS and XPlane because they model helicopter flight characteristics.

I don't think either model things like solar thermal effect upon wings' material properties yet.

westurner2y ago

* Documentation: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

* Source code: https://github.com/hazrmard/multirotor

* Demo/Quickstart: https://multirotor.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Quickstart.html

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse