micro-ROS Agent

ROS 2 package using Micro XRCE-DDS Agent.

Overview

This repository contains the Micro-ROS Agent package. Micro-ROS Agent is a ROS 2 node that wraps the Micro XRCE-DDS Agent. For further information about Micro XRCE-DDS Agent click here This package is a part of the Micro-ROS project stack. For more information about Micro-ROS project click here.

The node acts as a server between DDS Network and Micro-ROS nodes inside MCU. It receives and send messages from Micro-ROS nodes, and keep track of the Micro-ROS nodes exposing them to the ROS 2 network. The node interacts with DDS Global Data Space on behalf of the Micro-ROS nodes.

Package features

XML generation

During the build process, the package looks for all ROS 2 messages to generate an initial list of XML profiles. These profiles can are referenced in the Agent-Client communication to avoid sending the full XML content. This reference mechanism can be switched on and off from the Micro XRCE-DDS middleware layer.

Agent-Client communication mechanism

Communication between the Micro-ROS Agent and the Micro-ROS nodes supports two types of transport:

• UDP and TCP over IPv4 and IPv6.
• Serial Port transports.

All available configurations are supported directly by the Micro XRCE-DDS agent.

Purpose of the Project

This software is not ready for production use. It has neither been developed nor tested for a specific use case. However, the license conditions of the applicable Open Source licenses allow you to adapt the software to your needs. Before using it in a safety relevant setting, make sure that the software fulfills your requirements and adjust it according to any applicable safety standards, e.g., ISO 26262.

License

This repository is open-sourced under the Apache-2.0 license. See the LICENSE file for details.

For a list of other open-source components included in this repository, see the file 3rd-party-licenses.txt.

Known Issues/Limitations

Please notice the following issues/limitations:

• There is an unknown issue when dealing with serial ports shared with the micro-ROS agent running inside a Docker. Sometimes it works with a remarkable packet loss.
• There is an known issues with serial port communication on micro-ros-agent snap version. It is recommended to use the dockerized version or build it from source.

Contributing

Want to contribute? Great! You can do so through the standard GitHub pull request model. For large contributions we do encourage you to file a ticket in the GitHub issues tracking system prior to any code development to coordinate with the system_modes development team early in the process. Coordinating up front helps to avoid frustration later on.

Your contribution must be licensed under the Apache-2.0 license, the license used by this project.

Add / retain copyright notices

Include a copyright notice and license in each new file to be contributed, consistent with the style used by this project. If your contribution contains code under the copyright of a third party, document its origin, license, and copyright holders.

Sign your work

This project tracks patch provenance and licensing using a modified Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO; from OSDL) and Signed-off-by tags initially developed by the Linux kernel project.

system_modes Developer's Certificate of Origin.  Version 1.0

By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
    have the right to submit it under the "Apache License, Version 2.0"
    ("Apache-2.0"); or

(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that is covered by
    an appropriate open source license and I have the right under
    that license to submit that work with modifications, whether
    created in whole or in part by me, under the Apache-2.0 license;
    or

(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
    person who certified (a) or (b) and I have not modified it.

(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
    are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
    metadata and personal information I submit with it, including my
    sign-off) is maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed
    consistent with this project and the requirements of the Apache-2.0
    license or any open source license(s) involved, where they are
    relevant.

(e) I am granting the contribution to this project under the terms of
    Apache-2.0.

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

With the sign-off in a commit message you certify that you authored the patch or otherwise have the right to submit it under an open source license. The procedure is simple: To certify above system_modes Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.0 for your contribution just append a line

Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org>

to every commit message using your real name or your pseudonym and a valid email address.

If you have set your user.name and user.email git configs you can automatically sign the commit by running the git-commit command with the -s option. There may be multiple sign-offs if more than one developer was involved in authoring the contribution.

For a more detailed description of this procedure, please see SubmittingPatches which was extracted from the Linux kernel project, and which is stored in an external repository.

Individual vs. Corporate Contributors

Often employers or academic institution have ownership over code that is written in certain circumstances, so please do due diligence to ensure that you have the right to submit the code.

If you are a developer who is authorized to contribute to system_modes on behalf of your employer, then please use your corporate email address in the Signed-off-by tag. Otherwise please use a personal email address.

Maintain Copyright holder / Contributor list

Each contributor is responsible for identifying themselves in the NOTICE file, the project's list of copyright holders and authors. Please add the respective information corresponding to the Signed-off-by tag as part of your first pull request.

If you are a developer who is authorized to contribute to system_modes on behalf of your employer, then add your company / organization to the list of copyright holders in the NOTICE file. As author of a corporate contribution you can also add your name and corporate email address as in the Signed-off-by tag.

If your contribution is covered by this project's DCO's clause "(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person who certified (a) or (b) and I have not modified it", please add the appropriate copyright holder(s) to the NOTICE file as part of your contribution.