Adding a new vehicle

Adding a new vehicle

In order to add a new vehicle to Neptus we need to add an XML file describing it. You can find them in vehicles-defs folder.

The format for naming these files is the following: dd-<vehicle_name>.nvcl (for example 19-lauv-seacon-1.nvcl). dd is a number usually for ordering. Usually to group together similar vehicles. The is the unique name (id) for the vehicle. Usually lower case with no spaces.

This vehicle configuration file has the following sections: properties, feasibleManeuvers, communication-means, and consoles (which can be empty). The properties sets vehicle basic characteristics as the name, id, and appearance. The feasibleManeuvers indicates the maneuvers that the vehicle is capable of executing as well as their default values. The communication-means indicates the IMC ID and default IP and ports as well as transports active. The consoles is just an indication of what console is to be used for the vehicle (more or less deprecated).

Sample file

So let us look of a basic sample file with a vehicle supporting only GoTo. File 99-foo-1.nvcl.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <system xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="..\src\schemas\neptus-vehicle.xsd">
        <properties>
            <id>foo-1</id>
            <name>Foo-1</name>
            <type>AUV</type>
            <model>LAUV</model>
            <appearance>
                <x-size>1.4</x-size>
                <y-size>0.3</y-size>
                <z-size>0.54</z-size>
                <top-image-2D>../vehicles-files/lauv/lauv-seacon0-top.png</top-image-2D>
                <side-image-2D>../vehicles-files/lauv/lauv-seacon0-side.png</side-image-2D>
                <back-image-2D>../vehicles-files/lauv/lauv-seacon0-back.png</back-image-2D>
                <presentation-image-2D>../vehicles-files/lauv/lauv-seacon0-presentation.png</presentation-image-2D>
                <model-3D>../vehicles-files/lauv/lauv-xtreme-2.x3d</model-3D>
                <icon-color>
                    <r>255</r>
                    <g>255</g>
                    <b>32</b>
                </icon-color>
            </appearance>
            <coordinate-system-label>SNAME</coordinate-system-label>
        </properties>
        <feasibleManeuvers>
            <maneuver>
                <Goto kind="automatic">
                    <finalPoint type="pointType">
                        <point>
                            <id>GotoDestination</id>
                            <name>GotoDestination</name>
                            <coordinate>
                                <latitude>0N</latitude>
                                <longitude>0E</longitude>
                                <depth>2</depth>
                            </coordinate>
                        </point>
                        <radiusTolerance>5</radiusTolerance>
                    </finalPoint>
                    <velocity tolerance="10" type="float" unit="m/s">1.0</velocity>
                    <trajectoryTolerance>
                        <radiusTolerance type="float">1</radiusTolerance>
                    </trajectoryTolerance>
                    <annotation>
                        <documentation>No documentation available</documentation>
                        <implementation-class>pt.lsts.neptus.mp.maneuvers.Goto</implementation-class>
                    </annotation>
                </Goto>
            </maneuver>
        </feasibleManeuvers>
        <communication-means>
            <comm-mean>
                <name>ethernet</name>
                <type>ethernet</type>
                <host-address>10.0.10.10</host-address>
                <credentials username="root"/>
                <protocols>imc</protocols>
                <latency value="100M" unit="bps"/>
                <protocols-args>
                    <imc>
                        <port>6002</port>
                        <port-tcp>6002</port-tcp>
                        <udp-on>true</udp-on>
                        <tcp-on>false</tcp-on>
                        <imc3-id>00:F5</imc3-id>
                    </imc>
                </protocols-args>
            </comm-mean>
        </communication-means>
        <consoles>
            <console name="LAUV SeaCon Light">
                <xml-file>../conf/consoles/lauv.ncon</xml-file>
            </console>
        </consoles>
    </system>