Providing Virtual Distance Sensor Measurements to Autopilot

Question

I am trying to provide virtual rangefinder module measurements to the autopilot.

So far i found the following links:

https://mavlink.io/en/messages/common.html#DISTANCE_SENSOR

https://mavlink.io/en/messages/common.html#MAV_SENSOR_ORIENTATION

http://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/code-overview-object-avoidance.html

How can i create a MAV message using these informations?

I want to send informations from 8 virtual rangefinder (MAV_SENSOR_ORIENTATIONs are 0, 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 370, 315 respectively).

Is there a way to create MAV messages and send to the autopilot from outer source?

I am using SITL to create a vehicle and connecting to this vehicle using python dronekit module.

Thanks for answers...