Flyonic

The documentation can be found under docu.flyonic.de Username: flyonic Password: WJ46OpCQRGhO

An environment for VTOL drone experiments. The environment contains VTOL models, controllers, visualizations and intelligent algorithms that adapt the cognitive abilities from birds to future drones. The focus is on developing modern controls that operate the aerodynamic limits of the aircraft and push their performance beyond the current limits.

Quickstart guide

1. Download Julia (v1.8.2) I recommend to check for new versions!

   • For headless machines also download the current version from the website. apt-get may provide an old version.

   $ sudo apt install wget
   

   $ wget https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/bin/linux/x64/1.8/julia-1.8.2-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
   

   $ tar -xvzf julia-1.8.2-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
   

2. Install Julia Instructions for Official Binaries

   • For Windows follow the installation instructions.

   • For Mac, copy Julia into your application folder.

   • For Linux, extract the folder and copy it to /opt

     $ sudo cp -r julia-1.8.2 /opt/
     

     and create a symbolic link to julia inside the /usr/local/bin folder:

     $ sudo ln -s /opt/julia-1.8.2/bin/julia /usr/local/bin/julia
     

3. Open Julia

   • For Windows by clicking on the new program icon on your desktop or where you specified it in the installation. Or add the Julia path to your environment variables
   • For Mac, by clicking on the new program icon.
   • Type julia in a new terminal.

4. A Julia terminal should open. To test, enter e.g. sqrt(9).

   Press ctrl + D if you want to close it again.

The repository is currently not public. Please send me your GitHub name (https://github.com/"name" leads to your account) so I can provide you with the access. My email address [email protected].

5. $ git clone https://github.com/Finn-Sueberkrueb/flyonic.git or with $ git clone [email protected]:Finn-Sueberkrueb/flyonic.git
6. $ cd flyonic
7. $ julia
8. julia> ] to open the Julia package manager.
9. (@v1.8) pkg> activate . The environment should be changed from (@v1.7) pkg> to (Flyonic) pkg>
10. (Flyonic) pkg> instantiate This will take some time

in case there is a problem with electron follow...

10. Press ctrl + c to exit package manager
11. Finally, we run the example that learns in the drone environment with julia> include("src/examples/reinforcement_learning.jl"). With include the content of the file is inserted into the current REPL (read-eval-print loop "the current terminal session") and thus executed. Keep in mind that all includes are now contained in the current REPL. If you want to start fresh press ctrl + D to end the current REPL and start a new one with $ Julia.
12. Now the environment should start in the browser and the drone should start learning. This can also take a little longer the first time, since the entire code must be compiled. It's your turn. There are also Jupiter notebooks in the example folder.

Optional

To use the Jupiter notebooks in the example folder, iJulia must be installed in addition to Jupiter Notebook. To do this, go to the package manager in Julia again with ] and write add iJulia. Now Jupiter Notebook should be able to run the Julia examples.

Depending on your personal taste, you can setup your favorite IDE. I recommend Visual Studio Code with the Julia extension. But of course you can also choose from many other options Vim, Jupyter Notebook, Pluto Notebook, Atom, ...