DocsGetting Started
Overview
What Aerostack2 is, what you need to run it, and where to start.
Aerostack2 is a ROS 2 framework for building autonomous aerial systems, from a single drone to a swarm. Your mission code talks to a standard set of interfaces, and each drone sits behind an aerial platform that hides the hardware. Moving from simulation to a real Crazyflie, Tello or PX4 drone means changing the platform, not the mission.
How the pieces fit
Every drone runs the same stack of components, each one a ROS 2 node you can swap through plugins:
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| Aerial platform | Connects to the simulator or the flight controller, and publishes sensor data |
| State estimator | Works out where the drone is, from odometry, ground truth or an EKF |
| Motion controller | Turns position, speed or trajectory references into commands the platform accepts |
| Behaviors | Self-contained skills such as take off, go to, follow a path or land |
| Your mission | A Python script using the Python API, or a behavior tree, that calls those behaviors |
The architecture page covers this in more depth. You don't need it to get started.
Requirements
Aerostack2 supports two ROS 2 distributions:
- ROS 2 Humble on Ubuntu 22.04
- ROS 2 Jazzy on Ubuntu 24.04
You don't need a drone. Aerostack2 ships with two simulators, Gazebo and a lightweight multirotor simulator, so you can fly your first mission on a laptop.
With Pixi you can also build Aerostack2 on macOS (Apple silicon) without a system-wide ROS installation. Installation compares all the methods.
Where to start
Install Aerostack2
Pick binary packages, a source build, Docker or Pixi, and check that the packages are found. See Installation.
Fly in simulation
Follow the Quickstart to fly a simulated drone with a short Python mission. Then follow the tutorials, starting with Fly by hand.
Learn the concepts
Read Concepts to understand platforms, estimators, controllers and behaviors, and how they talk to each other.
Move to real hardware
Pick your drone in Aerial platforms and run the same mission on it.
License
Aerostack2 is open source under the BSD 3-Clause license. If you use it in academic work, see Citations.
Last updated on November 3, 2026