Hello all,

Has anyone had any past experience integrating a non-uniform vector field of disturbances into Gazebo?

I have a vector field of ocean currents in various directions and magnitudes and multiple objects in the environment (including an AUV). I am trying to write a plugin that would take in the robot's start position, end point, and the current (disturbance vector) at that location. The output would be commands to the thrusters to get to that end point. Writing the plugin is not a problem, but is there a way to model that vector field of disturbances to work with the physics engine so it can be incorporated into the plugin?

Specifically, I'm using the UUV Simulator, Gazebo 9, and the vector field disturbance data is in NetCDF format. The UUV Simulator has a method of adding in currents with a specified magnitude and direction, but I'm not sure if I can add in multiple currents with the resolution that I need (roughly 3x3 km^2 squares). The closest thing I can see is to add in a current at specific times, but this wouldn't work with multiple objects over the whole map.

Any relevant past experience (aerial/underwater) would be helpful.

Thanks!