LEVIATHANDocumentation

DOC 01GETTING STARTED

The application

LEVIATHAN is one desktop application with six workspaces, laid out in the order of the engineering work: CAD Studio to design parts, Hardware to wire the electronics, Code to write and run the software, World to simulate, Dashboard to analyse, and Hull for naval architecture and hull operations. Alt+1 to Alt+6 switch between them from anywhere, and LEVIATHAN opens on the World. All six share one local simulation service and one project.

How the six workspaces connect CAD Studio, Hardware and Code across the top; Hull, World and Dashboard across the bottom; the simulation service in the middle. CAD Studio parts and Hull hulls go to the World as world assets. Hardware hands a generated firmware project to Code. Code runs controller simulations whose runs open in the Dashboard. The World streams its live state to the Dashboard. Every workspace talks to the simulation service. Local simulation service FAB Engine · sensors · projects · CAD kernel one service, shared by all six workspaces Alt+1 CAD Studio Alt+2 Hardware Alt+3 Code Alt+6 Hull Alt+4 World Alt+5 Dashboard part → world asset hull at its draft firmware project simulation runs live state bus
Figure 1.1 How the workspaces connect. Every workspace talks to the same local simulation service; the arrows are the data that moves between workspaces.
Table 1.1 The six workspaces.
WorkspaceUse it toGuide
CAD Studio Alt+1Sketch and model parts, give them a material, measure them, export them, and send them to the World as solid objectsCAD Studio
Code Alt+3Create robotics projects from templates, edit and test them, and run controllers closed-loop against the simulation after approving the exact commandCode
Hardware Alt+2Wire a harness, check it against wiring and power rules, generate firmware, and run firmware against simulated sensorsHardware
World Alt+4Fly a vehicle in one of nine scenes with its sensors and overlays, in up to four viewsWorld
Hull Alt+6Lines, offsets, hydrostatics and intact stability; fouling, fuel cost and hull-robot cleaning plansHull
Dashboard Alt+5Plot and measure runs on a shared timeline, and open the 85 analysis toolsDashboard

The shell

Every workspace sits in the same frame. Across the top: the menus File, Edit, View, Insert, Tools, Simulate, Window and Help, the search box and the account control. Below them, the workspace tabs. The window title shows the open project, with a • while a document is unsaved.

The command palette open over the World workspace: a search field reading Search commands, scene objects, files, and a list of commands such as About LEVIATHAN, Capture view as PNG, Check CAD kernel, Frame the vehicle, Front view and Go to each workspace, each with its shortcut.
Figure 1.2 The command palette (Ctrl+K). One command registry drives the menus, the palette and the shortcuts, so every menu command can be found here with its shortcut.
  • Menus show only what applies to the current workspace. A command that cannot run is greyed out, and its tooltip says why.
  • Search and commands. Ctrl+K (or Ctrl+Shift+P, F1) opens the palette. It finds commands, objects in the World and features in CAD Studio, and files in the open project.
  • Status bar. The connection to the simulation service (with Reconnect when it is offline), the workspace and project, unsaved documents, the cursor position in orthographic views, the number of selected objects, simulation time, units (SI) and the state of the CAD kernel.
  • Console. The strip above the status bar opens Output, Terminal, Problems and Debug Console.
  • View ▸ Show Performance Stats adds frame-rate figures to 3D views. Window ▸ Reset panel layout restores the default layout. Help ▸ About LEVIATHAN shows the version.
  • Undo belongs to each workspace: the World keeps 100 steps, Hardware 60, Hull offsets 50, CAD Studio's history is kept by the service, and Code by the editor.

CAD Studio

A parametric part modeller for the parts a marine robot needs: pressure housings, flanges, end caps, brackets and hulls. Sketch with dimensions and relations, build features with a live preview, measure, assign a material, read mass properties, and export STEP, STL or GLB, each export re-read and verified.

CAD Studio with the Features ribbon: a parametric pressure housing in the view, the FeatureManager on the left and the Inspector on the right showing the body's volume, area and faces.
Figure 1.3 CAD Studio with a parametric pressure housing.

CAD Studio guide →

Code

A full editor for robotics software, with twelve project templates, Restricted Mode for untrusted folders, run configurations that run only after you approve the exact command, controller simulations against LEVIATHAN's physics, terminals, a debugger, tests, ROS 2 inspection and source control.

Code workspace editing sim_controller.py in the rov-controller project: explorer on the left, the Python source in the editor, and the status bar.
Figure 1.4 The Code workspace.

Code guide →

Hardware

An electronics workbench: pick a controller, add sensors and actuators from a library of 38 parts, wire them, and check the harness against pin, bus, address, voltage, current and power rules. Generate a firmware project, and run the compiled firmware against simulated sensors.

Hardware workbench: the parts library on the left, a controller board wired to a depth sensor on the canvas, and the harness properties with its power budget on the right.
Figure 1.5 A depth sensor wired to a controller board, with no rule errors.

Hardware guide →

World

The 3D simulation: a vehicle in one of nine scenes, thirteen sensors, ten overlays, look-through cameras and sonar, up to four views, and the scene tree with editable properties.

World in the four-view layout: a perspective view of the vehicle at the wreck, the front camera with a heading tape, altitude and depth readouts, a top view of the seabed, and the forward sonar image as a fan of range arcs.
Figure 1.6 The World in four views.

World guide →

Hull

Design mode: lines plan, editable offsets, hydrostatics, curves of form, GZ stability against the IMO 2008 Intact Stability Code criteria, and friction resistance. Operations mode: how fouling grows along a trading pattern, what it costs in power, fuel and carbon, and how a fleet of hull-cleaning robots would clean and inspect the hull.

Hull Design mode: hull definition tree, 3D, profile, plan and body plan views, hydrostatics, and the Stability tab with a GZ curve and IMO criteria.
Figure 1.7 Hull Design mode with the Stability tab.

Hull guide →

Dashboard

Analysis: a dockable grid of plots, tables, gauges, maps and metrics on a shared timeline, fed by the World, an autopilot simulation link, controller-simulation runs or an imported log. Tools: the catalogue of 85 panels for sensors, physics, charts, estimation, evaluation and interfaces.

Dashboard Analysis view in the Control tuning layout: metrics row, depth, power, heave command, controller time and thruster plots for a recorded controller simulation.
Figure 1.8 The Dashboard's Control tuning layout on a controller simulation.

Dashboard guide →

Projects and data

A project is a folder; LEVIATHAN keeps its own data for it under ~/.leviathan. Projects are listed in the welcome page and the File menu, and a missing or moved folder is shown as such rather than silently recreated.

Table 1.2 Where each workspace keeps its data.
DataLocationScope
Project registry~/.leviathan/projects/all projects
Project settings, run configurations<project>/.leviathan/per project
CAD documents~/.leviathan/les/documents/shared
Hardware harnesses, firmware~/.leviathan/harnesses/, firmware/shared
World assets~/.leviathan/world_assets/per project
Simulation runs~/.leviathan/runs/shared
Dashboard and World view layoutsapplication storageper project