Drone assistant

Blender addon for drone flight assistance
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Table of Contents

1. About The Project
   • Built With
2. Getting Started
   • Prerequisites
   • Installation
   • Debugging
3. Usage
4. Contact

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About The Project

Drone Assistant is a Blender Addon to give instructions to a drone pilot on how to perform a route within an indoor scenario.

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Built With

• Blender 2.93
• Marvelmind Indoor GPS
• PyBind11
• msgpack-python
• Visual Studio Code
• Blender Development VSC extension

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Getting Started

This is an example of how you may give instructions on setting up your project locally. To get a local copy up and running follow these simple example steps.

Prerequisites

• Blender 2.93+. Tested on 2.93 LTS version.
• Marvelmind Indoor GPS.
• Python binding for Marvelmind C API. Available here.
• Archibuilder and Filemanager addons. Available here.

Installation

1. Download and install Blender. You can also use portable version.

2. Install Marvelmind_pylib binding.

   1. Go to the path where you can find the python executable included with Blender:

          $ cd blender-install-directory/blender-VERSION-SYSTEM/VERSION/python/bin/

      For example, in windows for Blender 2.93 LTS:

          $ cd blender-install-directory/blender-2.93.4-windows-x64/2.93/python/bin

   2. Execute following instructions:

          $ ./python.exe -m ensurepip
          
          $ ./python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip
          
          $ ./python pip install https://github.com/bertoramos/marvelmind_pylib/releases/download/VERSION/WHEEL-FILE.whl
      
          $ python.exe -c "import marvelmind_pylib; print(marvelmind_pylib.__doc__)"
      
          Marvelmind C API port
          ...

3. Install msgpack-python module.

    $ python.exe -m ensurepip

    $ python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip
    
    $ python.exe -m pip install msgpack
    
    $ python.exe -c "import msgpack; print(msgpack.__name__, msgpack.version);"

    msgpack (1, 1, 0)

4. Install pyserial module.

    $ python.exe -m pip install pyserial
    
    $ python.exe -c "import serial; print(serial.__name__, serial.__version__);"

    serial 3.5

5. Activate Measureit addon. To activate Measureit, go to the Preferences tab: Edit > Preferences. Then, in the add-ons tab, look for Measureit and check that the checklist is selected.

6. Download latest releases.
   1. Unzip drone_assistant_VERSION.zip. You should find two zip files called drone_control.zip and utilities.zip.
   2. Go to Addon Tab: Edit > Preferences > Add-ons.
   3. Click install and select utilities.zip. Repeat with drone_control.zip.
   4. Search Utilities and Drone Control and activate check box.

Debugging

1. Follow steps 1 to 4 in the installation section.

2. In step 5, install only the Utilities addon.

3. Install Visual Studio Code and Blender Development VSC extension.

4. Open in VSC the drone_addon folder.

5. Press CTRL + SHIFT + P, type Blender:Start and press Enter.

6. Select the executable and wait for Blender to open with the addon loaded.

7. After modify code, reload code using Blender: Reload Addons. You can also close and reopen Blender by following steps 5 and 6.

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Usage

Create drone model

Drone Panel contains various functions for the creation of drone models.

Select Create to generate a new drone in scene.

Fill drone information and confirm operation. A model will be created in scene.

Create plan

Plans are sets of points that the drone must reach in a specific order.

There are two ways to create a plan: manual and automatic.

Manual waypoint marking

With this mode a route can be created by manually placing points in the scene.

Press Create button in Editor Panel. Select a name for the new plan and an available drone, and confirm operation. A new panel will open on the left side of the window.

To add a point press Add pose button. A new point will appear on the scene. You can move it with Blender basic transformations.

When you finished, press save plan button.

To see plan, choose your new plan in list and press Select button. The new plan will appear in scene.

Automatic plan creation

With this mode a plan can be created automatically by selecting an area and a distance between points.

Press Plan generator, select a name and a drone, and confirm operation. A transparent cube will be generated in scene. Transform this cube to select an area of the scene.

When you are finished, press space button. Select plan and a point cloud will appear on the scene: this is the route.

Plan execution

To execute the route, follow these steps:

1. Press Connect button.
2. Press Calibrate button. Then, move scene and plan to align Blender and Marvelmind system coordinates.
3. Press Options>Show HUD information button.
4. Press Play button to start route. Now you can see information on how to reach each point with the drone.
5. To start BLE capture, press Capture button and select capture time.

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Contact

Alberto Ramos Sánchez - alberto.ramos104@alu.ulpgc.es

Project Link: https://github.com/bertoramos/drone_assistant

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