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Using Python with AirSim

You can call AirSim from Python to control the drone and get images back.

First install the following Python package:

pip install msgpack-rpc-python

Now you can run the samples in the PythonClient folder.

Takeoff

For example takeoff.py which shows how to do a simple takeoff command and hover once it reaches the takeoff altitude.

from PythonClient import *
import sys
import time
import msgpackrpc
import math

# connect to the AirSim simulator 
client = AirSimClient('127.0.0.1')

print("Waiting for home GPS location to be set...")
home = client.getHomePoint()
while ((home[0] == 0 and home[1] == 0 and home[2] == 0) or
       math.isnan(home[0]) or  math.isnan(home[1]) or  math.isnan(home[2])):
    time.sleep(1)
    home = client.getHomePoint()

print("Home lat=%g, lon=%g, alt=%g" % tuple(home))

if (not client.arm()):
    print("failed to arm the drone")
    sys.exit(1);

if (client.getLandedState() == LandedState.Landed):
    print("Taking off...")
    if (not client.takeoff(60)):
        print("failed to reach takeoff altitude after 60 seconds")
        sys.exit(1);
    print("Should now be flying...")
else:
    print("it appears the drone is already flying")

client.hover();

Flying a path

Now that the drone is flying you can send some other flight commands. See path.py which shows how I created the moveOnPath demo. If your drone is located at the start position x=310.0 cm, y=11200.0 cm, z=235.0 cm of the Modular Neighbohood map then the following will make the drone fly along the streets.

from PythonClient import *
import sys
import time

client = AirSimClient('127.0.0.1')

# AirSim uses NED coordinates so negative axis is up.
# z of -5 is 5 meters above the original launch point.
z = -5

# this method is async and we are not waiting for the result since we are passing max_wait_seconds=0.
print("client.moveOnPath to fly fast path along the streets")
result = client.moveOnPath([(0,-253,z),(125,-253,z),(125,0,z),(0,0,z)], 15, 0, DrivetrainType.ForwardOnly, YawMode(False,0), 20, 1)

The drone should now be flying fast along the specified path.

Camera

While the drone is flying you might want to capture some camera images. See camera.py in the PythonClient folder. This program is capturing the Depth camera view from AirSim and displaying it in an OpenCV window.

# use open cv to show new images from AirSim 

from PythonClient import *
import cv2
import time
import sys

client = AirSimClient('127.0.0.1')

# get depth image
result = client.setImageTypeForCamera(0, AirSimImageType.Depth)

time.sleep(1) # give it time to render
help = False

while True:
    # because this method returns std::vector<uint8>, msgpack decides to encode it as a string unfortunately.
    result = client.simGetImage(0, AirSimImageType.Depth)
    if (result == "\0"):
        if (not help):
            help = True
            print("Please press '1' in the AirSim view to enable the Depth camera view")
    else:
        rawImage = np.fromstring(result, np.int8)
        png = cv2.imdecode(rawImage, cv2.IMREAD_UNCHANGED)
        cv2.imshow("Traffic", png)

    key = cv2.waitKey(1) & 0xFF;
    if (key == 27 or key == ord('q') or key == ord('x')):
        break;

Windows

On windows you may need to install the Microsoft Visual C++ 9.0 from http://aka.ms/vcpython27.