Auterion Simulator

Auterion Simulator is a photorealistic drone simulator designed for testing, training, and developing autonomous flight systems in safe, controlled environments. Built on high-fidelity physics and detailed 3D landscapes, it provides operators and developers with realistic image streams, making it especially well-suited for developing and validating vision-based algorithms.

Hardware Requirements

The Auterion Simulator has been tested on the following platforms:

• Asus G14 with CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 HX 370 | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Max-Q (Mobile) | RAM: 32 GB

• Lenovo Yoga Pro 9 with CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 185H | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (Mobile) | RAM: 32 GB

• Tower PC with CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7700XT | RAM: 64 GB

• Tower PC with CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X | GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER | RAM: 32 GB

Installation

Auterion Simulator is, at present, supported exclusively on Ubuntu.

If you already had a previous version of Auterion Simulator installed, or if you want to reinstall it starting from a clean slate, make sure to delete the old install directory with:

sudo rm -rf ~/.auterion-simulator

Ubuntu 22 or 24

1. Follow Docker setup to install and configure Docker and QEMU

2. Install virtual-skynode following Installation

3. Install python3 and python3-pil.imagetk with:

   sudo apt install -y python3 python3-pil.imagetk

4. Download the latest Auterion Simulator release from Auterion Suite and extract it anywhere (you will end up with a folder called UAS-v<x.y.z>-vanilla)

5. Download AMC from Auterion Suite (the minimum required version is v1.36.21)

Ubuntu 25

1. Install Docker following the Docker manual

2. Follow the Docker post-installation steps

3. Install QEMU with:

   sudo groupadd libvirt
   sudo mkdir -p /etc/libvirt/qemu/networks/autostart
   sudo apt install libvirt-daemon-driver-qemu binfmt-support qemu-user-static

4. Install virtual-skynode following Installation

5. Install python3 and python3-pil.imagetk with:

   sudo apt install -y python3 python3-pil.imagetk

6. Download the latest Auterion Simulator release from Auterion Suite and extract it anywhere (you will end up with a folder called UAS-v<x.y.z>-vanilla)

7. Download AMC from Auterion Suite (the minimum required version is v1.37.10)

At the time of writing, AMC v1.37.10 is not yet available to the general public.

Usage

Starting the Simulator

The following steps explain how to launch the Auterion Simulator:

1. Start the Auterion Simulator Launcher with:

   cd UAS-v<x.y.z>-vanilla
   sudo python3 ./AuterionSimulatorManagerGUI.py

   The following window will appear:

   

   Auterion Simulator Launcher GUI in "Stopped" state
2. Use << and >> buttons to select the desired vehicle

3. Click on Start Simulation and wait until Simulator Status becomes green with “Running” as status text (on the first start, this can take a few minutes since the Virtual Skynode is installing all the required apps):

   

   Auterion Simulator Launcher GUI in "Running" state

Initial Setup

The following steps cover the initial setup of the simulator and tuning of its parameters. These only need to be performed once, after installing a new version of Auterion Simulator:

1. Go to the Apps tab in the Virtual Skynode web interface at http://10.41.200.2/apps and adjust the following app settings (by clicking the cogwheel icon next to the app name):

   1. tracking-service app:

      1. set "Rtp Stream Enable Mpegts" to false

      2. set "Image Acquisition Delay" to 125

      3. set "Rtp Stream Bandwidth Kbit" to 5000

Everyday Workflow

The following explains how to use the simulator in everyday practice:

1. Follow the steps in Starting the Simulator

2. Start AMC and you are ready to fly!

To restart the simulation, click on Restart Simulation and wait a few seconds for AMC to reconnect to the new instance.

To change the simulated vehicle, click on Stop Simulation and go to point 2.

To exit the simulator, click either on Quit or on the close button in the status bar.