Velodyne ROS 2 driver

This is a ROS 2 driver for Velodyne devices. It currently supports the 64E(S2, S2.1, S3), the 32E, the 32C, and the VLP-16. This driver is responsible for taking the data from the Velodyne and combining it into one message per revolution. To turn that raw data into a pointcloud or laserscan, see the velodyne_pointcloud and velodyne_laserscan packages.

Published Topics

• /velodyne_packets (velodyne_msgs/VelodyneScan) - The raw data from one full revolution of the sensor.

Parameters

• device_ip (string) - The IP address that the Velodyne is on. From the factory, this is 192.168.1.201.
• gps_time (bool) - Whether to use data capture time from a GPS, or from the local time. Should only be set to True if a GPS is attached to the Velodyne. False by default.
• time_offset (double) - An arbitrary "skew", in seconds, to add to the acquisition timestamp. Defaults to 0.0.
• enabled (bool) - Whether the device should start-up enabled or not. Defaults to True.
• read_once (bool) - Whether to only playback the data once (True) or continuously (False). Only used in PCAP playback mode. Defaults to False.
• read_fast (bool) - Whether to output the data as fast as possible, (True), or sleep the appropriate delay between packets (False). Only used in PCAP playback mode. Defaults to False.
• repeat_delay (double) - The time to wait between repeats in continuous playback mode. Only used in PCAP playback mode. Defaults to 0.0.
• frame_id (string) - The frame_id to use when constructing the header for the packet to be published. Defaults to "velodyne".
• model (string) - The model number of the Velodyne attached. This should be one of 64E, 64E_S2, 64E_S2.1, 64E_S3, 32E, 32C, or VLP16. Defaults to 64E.
• rpm (double) - The RPM that the Velodyne is configured for. Note that this is descriptive, not prescriptive, so this should be set to match the value configured through the Velodyne web interface.
• pcap (string) - The PCAP playback file to use to playback data from. Only used in PCAP playback mode. Defaults to the empty string.
• cut_angle (double) - The azimuth angle at which to declare a single rotation complete. If this is less than 0, then a fixed number of packets (device-dependent) is used per rotation. This mostly works, but can vary because of variations in the hardware. If a positive number <= 2*Pi, a rotation will be declared "complete" when the azimuth reported by the device reaches that value. Defaults to 2*Pi.
• port (int) - The port on which to receive data from the Velodyne. From the factory, the Velodyne is configured to publish data on 2368. Defaults to 2368.

Change history

2.1.1 (2021-08-23)

• Minor fixes to string formatting. (#396) These changes will allow velodyne to compile without warnings on Rolling (soon to be Galactic). The changes are also backwards compatible to Foxy if we want to backport them.
• Contributors: Chris Lalancette

2.1.0 (2020-07-10)

• Fixing Foxy-specific uncrustify errors.
• Contributors: Joshua Whitley

2.0.0 (2020-07-10)

• Fix dependencies in package.xml (#331) Ensure that we depend on ament_cmake_ros as appropriate.
• Fixes pointed out by clang-tidy (#310)
  • Rearrange header includes so clang-tidy is happy.
  • Get rid of unnecessary void arguments on methods.
  • Properly mark methods as override where appropriate.
  • Initialize members and stack variables to zero before use.
  • Mark function implementations in header files \'inline\'.
  • Use more efficient \'empty\' method instead of empty string.
  • Get rid of unnecessary else statements after a continue/return.
  • Get rid of unnecessary == false use.
  • Make sure to add a virtual destructor to DataContainerBase.
  • Use string != comparison instead of \'compare\' method.
  • Rename PointcloudXYZIR parameter name to match implementation.
  • Get rid of usage of typedef.
  • Be more explicit about using floats.
  • Do an explicit lround to do int->float conversion.
  • Fix the intensity calculation.
  • Remove the azimuth from addPoint.
  • Make sure to reset the cloud data to 0 before reusing.
  • Use underscores on pointcloud member variables.
  • Using std::lround means we don\'t need to add 0.5 to the result.
  • Slightly rearrange and simplify range checks.
  • Add in example launch files for VLP32C.
• Dashing fixes (#307)
  • Use std::make_unique as appropriate.
  • Fix the azimuth calculation.
  • Fix a crash during driver startup.
  • Always recalculate the row_step while setting up the cloud.
  • Make sure to call computeTransformation.
  • Fix style errors pointed out by flake8.
• ROS2: Add Linters to velodyne_driver (#301)
  • Renaming files to match ROS2 conventions.
  • Cleaning up velodyne_driver and fixing diags.
  • velodyne_driver linting complete.
  • VD: Removing unused namespace.
• Add in example launch files.
• Disable copy, move, and assign operators.
• Build the components so the velodyne can be run as a component.
• Add in NodeOptions to node constructors.
• Throw an exception for an invalid Velodyne model.
• Add explicit, final, and override to classes where appropriate.
• Switch to using nullptr everywhere.
• Pass read_once, read_fast, and repeat_delay to InputPCAP constructor.
• Change filename parameter to const reference.
• Pass the devip string into the Input* constructors.
• Move gps_time into the InputSocket class.
• Get rid of default parameters for Input* constructors.
• Rename nodes.
• Update the documentation for ROS 2.
• Switch to using the cut angle by default.
• Merge pull request #251 from clalancette/dashing-devel3 ROS 2 Dashing port
• Merge pull request #214 from spuetz/feature/opc_nopcl Container cleanup and organized pointclouds
• Merge pull request #243 from dandedrick/reconfig-enable driver: add enabled reconfigure param
• Merge pull request #234 from kmhallen/c++11 Set minimum C++ standard to C++11
• Merge pull request #231 from ros-drivers/ci/test_better_output CI: Adding roslint as separate step. Limiting output of catkin build.
• Merge pull request #227 from ros-drivers/roslint Applying roslint to velodyne_pointcloud.
• Merge pull request #225 from ros-drivers/roslint Adding roslint to velodyne_driver.
• Merge pull request #222 from mpitropov/feat_Use_GPS_time Add flag to enable using GPS time from within the Velodyne packet instead of ROS time for scan.
• Merge pull request #220 from nbussas/static Transform static variable into member
• Merge pull request #216 from ros-drivers/maint/poll_timeout_handling Testing reporting error instead of stopping node on disconnect.
• Contributors: Andreas Klintberg, Chris Lalancette, Dan Dedrick, Joshua Whitley, Kevin Hallenbeck, Matthew Pitropov, Nils Hauke Bussas, Sebastian, Sebastian P