UAV Scenario Designer

Design UAV scenarios with terrain, platforms, and sensors

Since R2022a

Description

The UAV Scenario Designer app enables you to interactively create a UAV scenario with terrain, platforms, and sensors and simulate trajectories for a UAV platform. Using the app, you can:

• Import, export, and create a UAV scenario

• Import terrain from Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) files

• Add and edit scene objects, platforms, and sensors

• Add custom platforms and scene objects from STL files.

• Create and edit platform trajectories

• Simulate a UAV scenario

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Open the UAV Scenario Designer App

• MATLAB^® Toolstrip: On the Apps tab, under Robotics And Autonomous Systems, click UAV Scenario Designer .

• MATLAB command prompt: Enter uavScenarioDesigner.

Examples

Create Session and Add to Scenario

Open the App

Open the UAV Scenario Designer app by selecting the app in the Apps tab, under Robotics and Autonomous Systems or by running uavScenarioDesigner in the command window.

Add Scene Objects

Define a polygon with three vertices. For more information about defining polygon scene objects, see Create Polygon Scene Objects.

poly = [0 0; 1 1; 2 0];

In the UAV Scenario Designer app toolstrip, in the Scene Object section, select Polygon.

In the Import Polygon dialog box, select poly and click Import. Click anywhere on the UAV Scenario Canvas to place the polygon.

In the Property Panel pane, adjust the Position values of the polygon to for X, Y, and Z to 0, and change Height to 5. To change the elevation of the polygon so that the bottom face makes contact with the ground, click Snap To Ground Elevation.

Add Platform

On the app toolstrip, in the Platform section, select Quadrotor and click anywhere in the UAV Scenario Canvas to place the quadrotor. In the Property Panel pane, set the X position of the quadrotor to 5 and the Y and Z positions of the quadrotor to -5. Note that the reference frame of the platform is north-east-down (NED) by default. Click Zoom to Scenario to zoom in to the polygon and platform.

Add Sensor

With the quadrotor platform selected, on the app toolstrip, in the Sensors section, select Lidar, and click anywhere on the Sensor Canvas to add a lidar sensor. In the Property Panel pane, change the X position of the mounting point of the lidar sensor to 0 and the Y and Z positions to 0.125 and 0, respectively, in the local reference frame of the platform.

Create Trajectory and Simulate Scenario

Import UAV Scenario and Terrain File

Create a UAV scenario and add building meshes from an OSM file containing building meshes for Manhattan [1].

scene = uavScenario(ReferenceLocation=[40.707088 -74.012146 0]);
addMesh(scene,"terrain",{"gmted2010",[-200 200],[-200 200]},[0.6 0.6 0.6]);
addMesh(scene,"buildings",{"manhattan.osm",[-200 200],[-200 200],"auto"},[0 1 0]);

Open the UAV Scenario Designer app and click Import Scenario to import a scenario from the MATLAB® workspace. To make the each building more distinguishable, generate new colors for each of the building meshes by clearing Preserve scenario colors at import. Select scene and click Import.

The imported building meshes appear. Turn off the building markers in the UAV Scenario Canvas and UAV Scenario View pane by selecting Hide Scene Object Markers in each pane.

Note that to move buildings, you can drag the scene object marker of the building in the UAV Scenario Canvas pane. You can also zoom in to and delete a scene object from the Scene Browser pane by clicking and right-clicking on the object respectively.

Add Platform and Sensor

In the Platform section, select Fixed Wing, and then click anywhere in the UAV Scenario Canvas to add a fixed-wing UAV platform to the scenario. With the platform selected, in the Property Panel pane, set the X value of the Position parameter to -256 and the Y and Z values to -137 and -125, respectively. Note that the Reference Frame parameter of the platform is set to NED.

To add a lidar sensor to the platform, in the Sensors section, select Lidar and click anywhere in the Sensor Canvas. Specify the mounting position of the sensor on the platform by, in the Property Panel pane, setting the X value of the Position parameter to 0.25 and the Y and Z values to 0. All values are in the local coordinate frame of the platform mesh.

Create Trajectory

Select the Trajectory tab and, with the platform selected, select Add Waypoints. To create a trajectory for the platform, click in the UAV Scenario Canvas. To zoom in or out while adding points to the trajectory, scroll with the scroll wheel as needed. Add three points to the trajectory, and end trajectory creation by pressing Esc, Enter, or double-clicking in the UAV Scenario Canvas.

Click Time-Altitude Plot to open the time-altitude plot in the UAV Scenario Canvas. In the time-altitude plot, drag the first waypoint vertically to an altitude of 126 meters in the time-altitude plot. Note that you cannot move the waypoint left or right along the Time axis. To change the time value for waypoints, on the app toolstrip, in the Path and Orientation section, set Time to Manual. Then, drag the second waypoint to approximately 125 meters in altitude at 20 seconds. For more information about the other trajectory settings in the Path and Orientation section, see Trajectory.

Note, in the UAV Scenario View pane, that the platform may be too close to one of the buildings at the second waypoint. Adjust this waypoint by dragging it on the UAV Scenario Canvas, or by editing the position of the waypoint in the Trajectory Table. Select Trajectory Table to open the Trajectory Table pane, and click on the second waypoint. The table highlights the data of the selected waypoint in blue. Set the X and Y elements to 65 and 0, respectively. You can edit the data of any waypoint in this table as long as the corresponding Path and Orientation parameters are set to Manual.

Note that you can also delete or insert waypoints by right-clicking a waypoint or a trajectory between waypoints in the UAV Scenario Canvas and clicking Delete Waypoint or Insert Waypoint respectively in the right-click dialog boxes.

Simulate Scenario

In the Scene Browser pane, select the platform. Then select UAV Scenario tab and set Update Rate to 50 Hz. In the Simulate section, select Parameters and set Number of Frames to 30.

Click Simulate to open the Simulate tab.

Run the simulation and click Zoom to Selection to center the camera over the platform as it follows the trajectory.

After the platform completes the trajectory, click Close Simulate to return to the UAV Scenario tab.

Export UAV Scenario

Export the scenario or session to share the scenario or to later modify the scenario in UAV Scenario Designer. Click Export Scenario to open the Export Scenario to Workspace dialog box. Name the scenario and click Export to export the scenario to the MATLAB workspace as a uavScenario object.

To save the session as a MAT file, in the File section, select Save Session.

References

[1] The file was downloaded from https://www.openstreetmap.org, which provides access to crowd-sourced map data all over the world. The data is licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL), https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/

Import UAV Scenario with Polynomial Trajectory

Create UAV Scenario

Create a UAV scenario and set its local origin.

scene = uavScenario(UpdateRate=100,StopTime=15,ReferenceLocation=[46 42 0]);

Add an inertial frame, MAP, to the scenario.

scene.addInertialFrame("ENU","MAP",trvec2tform([1 0 0]));

Use the minjerkpolytraj function to generate the piecewise polynomial for the specified waypoints of the trajectory.

waypoints = [0 50 100; 0 -50 0; 0 0 0];
timePoints = [0 3.8596 11.4451];
numSamples = 100;
[~,~,~,~,pp,~,~] = minjerkpolytraj(waypoints,timePoints,numSamples);

Generate Trajectory from Piecewise Polynomial Using polynomialTrajectory

Use the polynomialTrajectory System object™ to generate a trajectory from the piecewise polynomial. Specify the sample rate of the trajectory. Set the AutoBank and AutoPitch properties to true.

traj = polynomialTrajectory(pp,SampleRate=100,AutoBank=true,AutoPitch=true);

Create a UAV platform with a specified polynomial trajectory in the scenario. Define the mesh for the UAV platform.

platform = uavPlatform("custom",scene,"Trajectory",traj);
updateMesh(platform,"fixedwing",{20},[1 0 0],eul2tform([0 0 pi]))

Import UAV Scenario

Open the UAV Scenario Designer app by selecting the app in the Apps tab, under Robotics and Autonomous Systems or by running uavScenarioDesigner in the command window.

To import a UAV scenario into the UAV Scenario Designer app:

1. Click Import Scenario to import a scenario from the MATLAB® workspace.

2. Select scene and click Import. The app displays a pop-up window warning you about the limitations of using a platform with polynomial trajectories. For more information see Limitations. Click OK to close the pop-up window.

3. Click the Trajectory tab, and select the custom platform from the Scene Browser pane.

4. Click Trajectory Table to open the Trajectory Table pane. You cannot edit the data in this table. For more information, see Limitations.

5. Click Time-Altitude Plot to open the time-altitude plot. You cannot adjust the waypoints in the time-altitude plot. For more information, see Limitations.

6. You can only rename the platform and change the start time in the Property Panel pane. All other properties are read-only.

Simulate Scenario

To simulate the scenario:

1. Select the UAV Scenario tab.

2. In the Simulate section of the app toolstrip, click Simulate to open the Simulate tab.

3. Run the simulation.

To save the session as a MAT file, in the File section, select Save Session.

Limitations

UAV Scenario Designer app support for the polynomialTrajectory System object is limited to importing the trajectory into a scene and simulating the trajectory. Editing and creation options are not available when using polynomialTrajectory.

Related Examples

• Design Obstacle Avoidance Package Delivery Scenario Using UAV Scenario Designer

Parameters

Trajectory — Trajectory settings

tab

To add or edit a trajectory and control the trajectory generation, use the trajectory settings.

• Click Waypoints to add waypoints to a trajectory of a selected platform.

• Click Delete Trajectory to delete an existing trajectory.

• Click Trajectory Table to display the trajectory table. See Trajectory Table for more information.

• Click Time-Altitude plot to display the time vs altitude plot.

You can also choose to automatically generate the waypoint trajectory or manually input waypoints by changing the selections of the Path and Orientation parameters.

Parameter	Selection
Trajectory Course	Auto: When selected, the app generates the course by fitting all the waypoints with a smooth curve. Table: When selected, you can manually edit the trajectory course at each waypoint using the Trajectory Table.
Platform Orientation	Auto: When selected, the app calculates the yaw and pitch angles of the platform to align the platform with the trajectory and calculates the roll angle to cancel the centripetal acceleration. Table: When selected, you can manually edit the yaw, pitch, and roll angles at each waypoint using the Trajectory Table.
Time	Auto: When selected, the app calculates the visiting time at all the waypoints. Table: When selected, you can manually edit the visiting time at each waypoint using the Trajectory Table.
Ground speed	Auto: When selected, the app uses the default ground speed for each platform class at each waypoint. Table: When selected, you can manually edit the ground speed at each waypoint using the Trajectory Table. Note UAV Scenario Designer does not support negative ground speeds.
Climb Rate	Auto: When selected, the app calculates the climb rate at each waypoint to smoothly fit all the waypoints. Table: When selected, you can manually edit the climb rate at each waypoint using the Trajectory Table.

Trajectory Table — Trajectory information

table

Trajectory information for each waypoint, specified as a table of scalars. When you insert waypoints on the platform canvas, the table is automatically generated. Click Trajectory Table under the Trajectory tab to display the table.

Edit the parameters in the table to adjust or fine-tune the trajectory. After you change the parameter values in the table, the platform trajectory changes accordingly on the canvas. The table includes these trajectory parameters.

Parameter	Description
Times	Time at which the platform visits the waypoint, specified as a scalar in seconds.
X	x coordinate of the waypoint in the scenario navigation frame.
Y	y coordinate of the waypoint in the scenario navigation frame.
Altitude	Altitude of the platform waypoint in the scenario navigation frame.
Course	The direction of motion on the x-y plane, specified as an angle measurement from the x direction.
Ground speed	Magnitude of the projected velocity on the x-y plane, specified as a nonnegative scalar in meters.
Climb Rate	Climb rate of the waypoint, which is the projection of the platform velocity in the z direction.
Roll	Orientation angle of the platform about the x-axis of the scenario frame, in degrees, specified as a scalar.
Pitch	Orientation angle of the platform about the y-axis of the scenario frame, in degrees, specified as a scalar.
Yaw	Orientation angle of the platform about the z-axis of the scenario frame, in degrees, specified as a scalar.

Simulate — Simulate UAV scenario tab

tab

Click Simulate in the UAV Scenario tab to open the Simulate tab.

Use the toolstrip buttons to control the simulation.

Click Hide Scene Object Markers in the UAV Scenario View pane to hide the object markers.

Click Zoom to Selection in the UAV Scenario View pane to zoom in on the selected object. Enable Zoom to Selection in simulation mode to follow the selected object.

Property Panel (Platforms) — Platform properties

pane

Use the Property Panel to edit the properties of a selected platform, such as geometry, body properties, mesh offset, and ego properties.

Platform

Parameter	Description
Name	Name of the platform.
Color	Color of the platform and platform trajectory.
Reference Frame	Reference frame of the platform, specified as NED (north-east-down) or ENU (east-north-up).
Start Time	Start time of the platform, in seconds.
Elevation Control	Select Snap To Ground Elevation to set the elevation of the platform to ground level.

To edit the geometry of the platform, use the Geometry parameters.

Geometry

Parameter	Description
Scale	Scale of the platform mesh. Default is 1. If the platform is a cuboid platform, this parameter is read-only.
Length	Length of the mesh, in meters. For quadrotor, fixed-wing, and custom platforms, this property is read-only and affected by the Scale parameter.
Width	Width of the mesh, in meters. For quadrotor, fixed-wing, and custom platforms, this property is read-only and affected by the Scale parameter.
Height	Height of the mesh, in meters. For quadrotor, fixed-wing, and custom platforms, this property is read-only and affected by the Scale parameter.

To edit the body properties of the scene object, use the Body Properties parameters.

Body Properties

Parameter	Description
Position	Specify the X, Y, and Z positions of the platform in the global coordinate frame, in meters. The properties change depending on the selected reference frame. ENU — X (East), Y (North), Z (Up) NED — X (North), Y (East), Z (Down)
Orientation	Specify the Yaw, Pitch, Roll orientation from the world frame to the body frame in Z-Y-X order in degrees. ENU — Yaw (East), Pitch (North), Roll (Up) NED — Yaw (North), Pitch (East), Roll (Down)

To edit the mesh offset of the scene object, use the Mesh Offset parameters.

Mesh Offset

Parameter	Description
Position Offset	Mesh position offset, in meters, from the platform frame in the X, Y, and Z directions.
Orientation Offset	Mesh orientation offset, in degrees, from the platform frame in Roll, Pitch, and Yaw directions.

To edit the ego properties of the scene object, use the Ego Properties parameters. The ego properties are initial conditions that move the mesh during simulation. If the platform has a trajectory, then these properties are read-only.

Ego Properties

Parameter	Description
Acceleration	Acceleration of the platform, in meters, per second squared.
Velocity	Velocity of the platform, in meters, per second.
Angular Velocity	Angular velocity of the platform, in degrees, per second.

Property Panel (Scene Objects) — Scene object properties

pane

Use the Property Panel to edit the scene object parameters and body properties of a selected object. Cylinders, polygons, and custom objects all share these object parameters:

Object Parameters

Parameter	Description
Name	Name of the scene object.
Color	Color of the scene object.
Elevation Control	Select Snap To Ground Elevation to set the elevation of the scene object to ground level.
Use Local Coordinates	Select to use a local coordinate frame, specifying Position as X, Y, and Z. Clear this parameter to specify Position as Longitude, Latitude, and Altitude.

Note

Scene objects coordinates are always defined in east-north-up (ENU).

The Body Properties contains the position of the scene object, Position. If you select Use Local Coordinates, these values are in Cartesian coordinates, in meters. Otherwise these values are the latitude and longitude of the object, in degrees, and the altitude in meters.

To edit the geometry of the scene object, use the Geometry parameters.

Geometry

Parameter	Description
Radius (Cylinder only)	Radius of the cylinder, in meters.
Height	Height of the cylinder or polygon, in meters

Property Panel (Sensors) — Sensor properties

pane

To view and edit sensor properties in the Property Panel, select a sensor. UAV Scenario Designer supports these three sensors: GPS, INS, and lidar. These MATLAB object equivalents for these sensors are equivalent to the gpsSensor, insSensor, and uavLidarPointCloudGenerator MATLAB objects respectively.

Use the Sensor Parameters and Mounting Properties to edit sensor parameters and their mounting position on the platform mesh respectively. These properties are the same for all sensor objects.

Sensor Parameters

Parameter	Description
Name	Name of the sensor.
Update Rate	Update rate of the sensor, in hertz

Mounting Properties

Parameter	Description
Position	Mounting position of the sensor with respect to the platform body origin.
Orientation	Mounting orientation of the sensor with respect to the platform body orientation.

To edit the GPS Parameters, select a GPS sensor.

GPS Parameters

Parameter	Description
Reference Location	Reference location of the sensor, specified in geodetic coordinates with latitude and longitude in degrees and altitude in meters.
Position Input Format	Position input format of the sensor, specified in local Cartesian or geodetic coordinates.
Reference Frame	Reference frame of the sensor, specified as NED (north-east-down) or ENU (east-north-up).
Horizontal Position Accuracy	Horizontal position accuracy of the sensor, specified in meters.
Vertical Position Accuracy	Vertical position accuracy of the sensor, specified in meters.
Velocity Accuracy	Velocity accuracy of the sensor, specified in meters per second.
Decay Factor	Decay factor of the sensor, specified as a number in the range [0, 1].
Random Stream	Random stream, specified as Global stream or mt19937ar with seed.
Seed	Specify seed random stream.

To edit the INS Parameters, select an INS sensor.

INS Parameters

Parameter	Description
Position Accuracy	Position accuracy of the INS sensor, specified as X, Y, and Z, in meters.
Orientation Accuracy	Orientation accuracy of the INS sensor, specified as Roll, Pitch, and Yaw, in degrees.
Position Error Factor	Position error factor of the INS sensor, specified in meters.
Velocity Accuracy	Velocity accuracy of the INS sensor, specified in meters per second.
Acceleration Accuracy	Acceleration accuracy of the INS sensor, specified in meters per second squared.
Angular Velocity Accuracy	Angular velocity accuracy of the INS sensor, specified in degrees.
Fix GNSS	Select to lock the GNSS readings of the INS sensor.

To edit the Lidar Parameters, select a lidar sensor.

Lidar Parameters

Parameter	Description
Max Range	Maximum range of the lidar sensor, in meters.
Range Accuracy	Range accuracy of the lidar sensor, in meters.
Azimuth Resolution	Azimuth resolution of the lidar sensor, in degrees.
Elevation Resolution	Elevation resolution of the lidar sensor, in degrees.
Add Noise	Select to add noise to the lidar sensor output.
Organize Output	Select to output an organized point cloud.
Elevation Limits	Elevation scanning limits of the lidar sensor, in degrees.
Azimuth Limits	Azimuth scanning limits of the lidar sensor, in degrees.

Property Panel (Import Terrain) — Terrain import properties

pane

Use the Property Panel to set the terrain import properties for the selected terrain after clicking Import Terrain.

Terrain Properties

Parameter	Description
Name	Name of the terrain file. This parameter is read-only.
Import Terrain	Select to import the terrain, once you have set all the parameters.
Use Local Coordinates	Select to specify the terrain limits and bounds using local coordinates. To use geodetic coordinates for the terrain limits and bounds, clear this parameter.

To edit the terrain limits, use the Terrain Limits parameters.

Terrain Limits

Parameter	Description
X (m) and Y (m)	Minimum and maximum X- and Y-axis limits of the terrain. To enable this parameter, select Use Local Coordinates.
Latitude Limits (deg) and Longitude Limits (deg) |	Minimum and maximum latitude and longitude limits of the terrain. To enable this parameter, clear Use Local Coordinates.

To edit the terrain bounds, use the Terrain Bounds parameters.

Terrain Bounds

Parameter	Description
X (m) and Y (m)	Minimum and maximum X- and Y-axis limits of the terrain bounds. To enable this parameter, select Use Local Coordinates.
Latitude Limits (deg) and Longitude Limits (deg) |	Minimum and maximum latitude and longitude limits of the terrain bounds. To enable this parameter, clear Use Local Coordinates.

Programmatic Use

uavScenarioDesigner

uavScenarioDesigner opens the UAV Scenario Designer app.

Limitations

• UAV Scenario Designer may run slowly if MATLAB is using a software implementation of OpenGL^®. To solve the problem, upgrade your graphics hardware driver or use opengl to switch to a hardware-accelerated implementation of OpenGL. See Resolving Low-Level Graphics Issues for more information.

• UAV Scenario Designer app support for polynomialTrajectory System object™ is limited to importing the trajectory into a scene and simulating the trajectory. Edit and create options are not available when using polynomialTrajectory.

More About

Create Polygon Scene Objects

To import 3-D polygons into a scene in UAV Scenario Designer, define a polygon in MATLAB as an N-by-2 matrix of vertices, where each row represents the x- and y-position of each vertex. The rows should be sequential either clockwise or counter-clockwise. When you import a polygon into the app, the default height of the polygon is set to 10 meters. Select the polygon to edit the height and center of position of the polygon by using the Property Panel (Scene Objects).

Example: polygon = [0 0; 1 1; 2 0]

Tips

• If you hit the maximum frame limit set, click Parameters in the Simulate tab section in the toolstrip and increase the Number of Frames parameter in the Set simulation parameters dialog box.

Version History

Introduced in R2022a