Multiple Virtual Skynodes on single machine

How to run multiple instances of Virtual Skynode on a single machine to emulate multiple vehicles

Multiple instances of Virtual Skynode can be run when the following conditions are met:

• Each instance must use a separate storage directory. Use the --storage launch argument to control this

• Each instance must use a separate root filesystem image. Use the --rootfs launch argument to control this

• Each instance should be configured to have a unique MAVLink system_id after launch. Use AMC or MAVLink to set the APX4 parameter MAV_SYS_ID to unique values

• Each instance must use a separate unique IPv4 address in the same subnet. Use the --guest-ip launch argument to control this.

• Each instance's virtual FMU must be configured to use the "self-containd" simulation without Gazebo:

  

Example Launch

Example launch commands for three separate virtual skynode instances:

# Copy the root filesystem twice
cp rootfs rootfs2
cp rootfs rootfs3
mv rootfs rootfs1

Launch the first instance:

virtual-skynode run --rootfs rootfs-1.qcow2 --storage ./storage1 --guest-ip 10.41.200.2

Launch the second instance:

virtual-skynode run --rootfs rootfs-2.qcow2 --storage ./storage2 --guest-ip 10.41.200.3

Launch the third instance:

virtual-skynode run --rootfs rootfs-3.qcow2 --storage ./storage3 --guest-ip 10.41.200.4

Caveats

Each instance of Virtual Skynode will consume CPU, RAM and disk space. Running multiple Virtual Skynode instances is therefore only viable on more powerful machines.