sob_layer repository

Repository Summary

Checkout URI https://github.com/dorezyuk/sob_layer.git
VCS Type git
VCS Version master
Last Updated 2021-11-22
Dev Status MAINTAINED
CI status No Continuous Integration
Released RELEASED
Tags No category tags.
Contributing Help Wanted (0)
Good First Issues (0)
Pull Requests to Review (0)

Packages

Name Version
sob_layer 0.1.1

README

Small-Objects-Big (Sob) Layer

Build Status

The SobLayer offers a (likely) faster alternative to the commonly used costmap_2d::InflationLayer. It implements the distance transform algorithm described by Felzenszwalb and Huttenlocher [1].

Install/Build

If you're using ros-noetic, you can install the package via apt:

sudo apt install ros-noetic-sob-layer

If you're using an older ros-version or if you want to build the package from sources, follow the "normal" build process for catkin-based packages:

cd ~/catkin_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/dorezyuk/sob_layer.git
catkin build sob_layer --no-deps --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

You will get an additional performance boost by compiling with O3 optimization, which enables auto-vectorization:

catkin build sob_layer --no-deps --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-O3 -march=native"

The library offers also a benchmark-target. The benchmarking should help you to figure out, if the SobLayer offers a reasonable improvement over the costmap_2d::InflationLayer for your specific usecase/platform. The benchmark-target requires the benchmark library. If you want to build it, add -Dsob_layer_BENCHMARK=ON to your build command:

catkin build sob_layer --no-deps --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -Dsob_layer_BENCHMARK=ON

Requirements

The library requires at least C++11. It has been tested on Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 running ros-melodic and ros-noetic, respectively. Following compilers are known to work * GCC 7.5.0 * Clang 6.0.0

Benchmarks

This library was benchmarked against the costmap_2d::InflationLayer. The benchmarks focus on two extreme scenarios.

In the first scenario we measure the performance of large, connected obstacles. We place a filled square in the middle of the map. The square is set to the size NxN. N ranges from 0 to 0.9 times the overall map's edge E (assuming the map is a square with the size ExE). An increasing N increases hence the "load-factor" (number of occupied cells).

In the second scenario we measure the performance of unconnected obstacles. On an flattened map, we mark every N-th cell as occupied. With decreasing values for N, more cells are marked as occupied - our "load-factor" increases. The used N-values are [101, 51, 41, 31, 21, 11, 6, 3, 2].

image

The image above shows the results. The results were obtained on a AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U CPU. The library was compiled with GCC 7.5.0 and "-O3 -march=native" flags.

The y-axis indicates the cpu-time. The x-axis shows the "load-factor" (increasing from left to right). Both scenarios were run for two map-sizes: 100x100 and 1000x1000. The upper row shows the results for the smaller size, the lower for the larger.

Config

The SobLayer follows mostly the configuration from costmap_2d::InflationLayer, easing the change for users.

# in your <common|local|global>_costmap.yaml
plugins:
    # ...
    -{name: inflation_layer,  type: "sob_layer::SobLayer"}

inflation_layer:
    # in meters. positive will suppress the automatic calculation from the
    # footprint
    inflation_radius: -1.
    # in meters, as in costmap_2d::InflationLayer
    inscribed_radius:  1.
    # decay, as in costmap_2d::InflationLayer
    cost_scaling_factor: 0
    # same behavior as in every costmap_2d::Layer:
    # calls to updateCosts and updateBounds will be skipped, if false
    enabled: true
    # If set to true, the costs with the value costmap_2d::NO_INFORMATION will
    # be overwritten by any cost larger than costmap_2d::FREE_SPACE.
    inflate_unknown: true


References

[1] Felzenszwalb, P., & Huttenlocher, D. (2012). Distance Transforms of Sampled Functions Theory of Computing, 8(19), 415–428.

CONTRIBUTING

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