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arena_camera_ros2

Arena Camera deriver for ROS2

Note

• Please provide your feedback is welcomed at support@thinklucid.com or the repo issue page

Requirements

• 1
  • OS : Linux (x64/amd64/arm64) (==22.04)
  • ROS2 : Humble Hawksbill distro (installation steps in ros2_arena_setup.sh)
  • ArenaSDK and arena_api : https://thinklucid.com/downloads-hub/
• or 2 Docker
  • ArenaSDK and arena_api : https://thinklucid.com/downloads-hub/
  • build the docker image provided

Getting Started

• clone repo or download release

  git clone https://github.com/lucidvisionlabs/arena_camera_ros2.git

• install ArenaSDK and arena_api
  • https://thinklucid.com/downloads-hub/

• install ROS2 and setup the environment

  cat arena_camera_ros2/ros2_arena_setup.sh to view the script

  cd arena_camera_ros2 ; sudo sh ros2_arena_setup.sh installs ROS2 Humble Hawksbill distro

• build workspace and its dependencies

  source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash if using a regular terminal

  cd arena_camera_ros2/ros2_ws

  rosdep update

  rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro humble -r -y

  colcon build --symlink-install # build workspace for dev

• install the build

  . install/setup.bash

Explore

• explore nodes
  • arena_camera_node
    • this is the main node. It represent one LUCID Camera.
    • it has two executable start and trigger_image
    • ros arguments
      • serial
        • a string representing the serial of the device to create.
        • if not provided the node, it will represent the first dicovered camera.
      • topic
        • the topic the camera publish images on.
        • default value is /arena_camera_node/images.
        • if passed as a ros argument, it should be preceded with “/”
      • width
        • the width of desired image
        • default value is the one in default user profile.
      • height
        • the height of desired image
        • default value is the one in default user profile.
      • pixelformat
        • the pixel format of the deisred image
        • supported pixelformats are “rgb8”, “rgba8”, “rgb16”, “rgba16”, “bgr8”, “bgra8”, “bgr16”, “bgra16”, “mono8”, “mono16”, “bayer_rggb8”, “bayer_bggr8”, “bayer_gbrg8”, “bayer_grbg8”, “bayer_rggb16”, “bayer_bggr16”, “bayer_gbrg16”, “bayer_grbg16”, “yuv422”
      • gain
        • a double value represents the gain of the image.
      • exposure_time
        • the time elapsed before the camera sensor creates the image.
        • units is micro seconds.
        • big values might makes the image take too long before it is view/published.
        • if trigger_mode is passed to node them it is recommended to set exposure_time as well so the triggered images do not take longer than expected.
      • trigger_mode
        • puts the device in ready state where it will wait for a trigger_image client to request an image.
        • default value is false. It means the device will be publishing images to the default topic /arena_camera_node/images.
        • values are true and false.

        • when false, images can be viewed

          ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p qos_reliability:=reliable -p topic:=image

          ros2 run image_tools showimage

        • when true, image would not be published unless requested/triggered

          ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p qos_reliability:=reliable -p topic:=image -p exposure_time:=<proper value> -p trigger_mode:=true

          ros2 run image_tools showimage # no image will be displayed yet

          ros2 run arena_camera_node trigger_image

    • QoS related parameters
      • if using these images with some subscriber make sure:
        • both arena_camera_node and the subscriber on the same topic.
        • both have the same QoS settings else the images will be published but the subscriber would not see them because the image mags have a different QoS than the subscriber.
        • QoS parameter
        • qos_history
          • represents the history value of QoS for the image publisher.
          • default value is keep_last.
          • supported values are “system_default”,”keep_last”, “keep_all”, “unknown”.
          • more about QoS: https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Concepts/About-Quality-of-Service-Settings/
        • qos_history_depth
          • represents the depth value of QoS for the image publisher.
          • default value is 5.
          • more about QoS: https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Concepts/About-Quality-of-Service-Settings/
        • qos_reliability
          • represents the reliability value of QoS for the image publisher.
          • default value is best_effort
          • supported values are “system_default”, “reliable”, “best_effort”, “unknown”.
          • more about QoS: https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Concepts/About-Quality-of-Service-Settings/

      simple example for using arguments together

      ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p serial:="904240001" -p topic:=/special_images -p width:=100 -p height:=200 -p pixelformat:=rgb8 -p gain:=10 -p exposure_time:=150 -p trigger_mode:=true

• explore excutables

  • ros2 pkg executables | grep arena

  • all excutables can be run by using

    ros2 run <pakg name> <executable name>

• explore actions

  • None
• explore services
  • trigger_image
    • trigger image form a device that is running in trigger_mode.
    • To run a device in trigger mode ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p exposure_time:=<proper value> -p trigger_mode=true
    • To trigger an image run ros2 run arena_camera_node trigger_image

Road map

• support windows
• add -h flag to nodes
• showimage node to view 2D and 3D images
• launch file
• camera_info
• access to nodemaps
• settings dump/read to/from file
• support two devices