px4-docker

The fastest way to get started with building PX4 NuttX and SITL targets.

Prerequisites

• PX4 repo cloned
• Docker Engine and Docker Compose installed
• NVIDIA Container Toolkit (only for Newton SITL container)

One-time setup

cd <PX4 root dir>
git clone git@github.com:breuerpeter/px4-docker.git docker
cd docker
chmod +x *.sh

Optional, but recommended:

• Add to git exclude file (we don't want to track this repo as part of PX4): ./setup_gitexclude.sh
• Install bash shell helpers for running PX4: ./setup_px4_helper.sh && source ~/.bashrc. This provides the following bash commands:
  • cdpx to navigate to the PX4 root dir (configured by PX4_DIR in px4_helpers.sh)
  • mpx to build/run NuttX and SITL PX4 targets (credits to @harrisonmg)
  • mavtcp to start a MAVLink router that allows you to connect your GCS running locally to a PX4 instance running on a remote server that you connect to via SSH (requires mavp2p on the remote server)

Usage

Using helpers

Note: use mpx --help

mpx fmu v3          # NuttX example
mpx newton quad_x   # SITL example

Equivalent manual commands

NuttX example:

cd <PX4 root dir>/docker
docker compose up px4-nuttx -d
docker exec -it px4-fmu
make px4_fmu-v3

SITL example:

cd <PX4 root dir>/docker
docker compose up px4-sitl-newton -d
docker exec -it px4-sitl-newton
make px4_sitl newton_quad_x

If running SITL with the Newton simulator, open this address in your browser to see the visualization. If you are working on a remote server, the web UI requires connecting using SSH with port forwarding (ssh -L 9090:localhost:9090 -L 9876:localhost:9876 <user>@<remote-ip>).

If you are working on a remote server and want to connect to a GCS running locally, you will need a MAVLink router (such as mavp2p) installed in order to create a TCP server on (for example) port 5760 such that the GCS can connect through the SSH tunnel. If you have mavp2p installed on the remote server, just run mavtcp. To forward TCP port 5760, specify it in the ssh command: ssh -L 5760:localhost:5760 <user>@<remote-ip>. Then create the comm link (TCP, 127.0.0.1:5760) in the GCS and connect.

To fix X11 auth mounting (required for Gazebo and other sims with a desktop GUI) issues:

sudo rm -rf /tmp/.docker.xauth
touch /tmp/.docker.xauth
xauth nlist $DISPLAY | sed -e 's/^..../ffff/' | xauth -f /tmp/.docker.xauth nmerge -