MAVES: A MATLAB-Based 2D VTOL Simulator for STEM Education

2D DroneSim is a ROS-based educational simulation environment designed to teach and test UAV control algorithms in a simplified 2D setting.

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🎯 Overview

MAVES is a lightweight, open-source simulation platform developed for the design and evaluation of UAV control algorithms in a simplified 2D planar setting. It targets educational and rapid prototyping use cases where full 3D dynamics may not be necessary.

Originally presented at ISAS 2025, the simulator offers real-time visualization, interactive command input, and modular physics configuration. It is implemented in Python using ROS 2 and integrates seamlessly with common control design workflows.

🛠 Features

  • 2D quadrotor dynamics with configurable parameters
  • Support for PID, LQR, and MPC controllers
  • Real-time visualization via matplotlib or pygame
  • ROS 2-based modular node architecture
  • Logging and replay utilities for analysis

📚 Applications

  • Undergraduate and graduate control systems courses
  • Rapid testing of flight controllers before full 3D deployment
  • Educational demos for linear vs nonlinear behavior
  • Autonomous hovering and waypoint tracking tasks

📦 Resources

  • Full source code and documentation on GitHub
  • Step-by-step lab guides for classroom integration
  • Docker image for easy deployment
  • Sample controllers and benchmark results

📄 Citation