OS1 ROS Node

Building the ROS Node

• Supports Ubuntu 16.04 with ROS Kinetic (for ouster_driver)
• ROS installation instructions can be found here
• Additionally requires ros-kinetic-pcl-ros and, optionally, ros-kinetic-rviz for visualization
• Be sure to source the ROS setup script before building. For example:source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
• Both packages can be built by catkin by moving them into a catkin workspace
• Build with mkdir myworkspace && cd myworkspace && ln -s /path/to/ouster_driver ./src && catkin_make

Running the ROS Node

• Set up the ROS environment with source /path/to/myworkspace/devel/setup.bash in a new terminal for each command below
• For use with a running sensor:
  • To publish OS1 data as ROS topic roslaunch ouster_driver os1.launch lidar_address:=<os1_hostname> pc_address:=<udp_data_dest> where <os1_hostname> can be the hostname or IP address of the OS1 device, and <udp_data_dest> is the hostname or IP address to which the sensor should send data to (i.e., your computer’s IP address on the interface connected to the OS1)
  • To record raw sensor output, run rosbag record /os1_node/imu_packets /os1_node/lidar_packets in another terminal
  • Note: os1_node/lidar_packets and os1_node/imu_packets are the “raw data” topics, while os1_node/points is the ROS compatible XYZ topic and os1_node/imu is the ROS compatible IMU topic
  • To visualize output, run rviz -d /path/to/ouster_driver/rviz/viz.rviz in another terminal
• For use with recorded sensor data:
  • To replay raw sensor output, run roslaunch ouster_driver os1.launch replay:=true
  • In a second terminal, run rosbag play --clock <bagfile>
  • To visualize output, run rviz -d /path/to/ouster_driver/rviz/viz.rviz in another terminal
• Sample raw sensor output is available here

OS1 address configuration

• By default, the OS1 uses DHCP to obtain its IP address (the <os1_hostname> parameter above). The “OS-1-64/16 High Resolution Imaging LIDAR: Software User Guide” by Ouster Inc. recommends using dnsmasq.
• Setting IP address dynamically (default)
  • Install dnsmasq (when required), as sudo apt install dnsmasq dnsmasq-utils
  • Identify the interface name the OS1 is attached to. If this interface is not configured yet, setup its IP address and network mask. Use the NetworkManager and use “manual” in IPv4 settings, or use the ifconfig command (ex., ifconfig <INTERFACENAME> 192.168.2.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 up)
  • Modify the configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.conf, define/modify the interface= line with the interface name above. Also define the dhcp-range= value according to your interface (ex., dhcp-range=192.168.2.50,192.168.2.150,12h, in accordance to the ifconfig example above)
  • Start (stop) dnsmasq system service (sudo systemctl stop dnsmasq to stop, sudo systemctl start dnsmasq to start)
  • Identify the address assigned to the OS1 using journalctl -fu dnsmasq. Example:

   Oct 23 09:45:56 <HOSTNAME> dnsmasq-dhcp[30010]: DHCPREQUEST(<INTERFACENAME>) 192.168.2.*** bc:0f:**:**:**:**
   Oct 23 09:45:56 <HOSTNAME> dnsmasq-dhcp[30010]: DHCPACK(<INTERFACENAME>) 192.168.2.*** bc:0f:**:**:**:** os1-XXXXXXXXXXXX

where <HOSTNAME> is your computer’s assigned hostname, <INTERFACENAME> is the interface configured above, 192.168.2.*** is the IP address assigned to the sensor, bc:0f:**:**:**:** is the OS1 MAC address and os1-XXXXXXXXXXXX is the sensor’s hostname (XXXXXXXXXXXX is replaced by the sensor’s serial number). Note: instead of “*” an actual number will be shown.

• You can set <os1_hostname> as either the assigned IP address (ex., 192.168.2.***) or the sensor’s hostname (ex., os1-XXXXXXXXXXXX).

OS1 mode configuration

• Setting the LiDAR horizontal resolution and scan rate
  • Please identify the current sensor IP address or hostname using the steps above
  • The supported values for lidar_mode are: 512x10, 1024x10, 2048x10, 512x20, 1024x20. The first value is horizontal resolution and the second is scan rate.
  • Connect to the sensor and reconfigure the lidar_mode parameter, storing the modification internally so to use it at next boot. You can skip the write_config_txt command to use default value at next boot. os1-XXXXXXXXXXXX is the sensor’s hostname (XXXXXXXXXXXX is replaced by the sensor’s serial number).

  nc os1-XXXXXXXXXXXX 7501
  get_config_param active lidar_mode
  set_config_param lidar_mode 2048x10
  write_config_txt
  reinitialize

##Todo

• Velodyne compatibility mode.
• Configure active sensor parameters from driver code, in particular lidar_mode.
• Fix replay option currently not working.
• Verify the sensor operation information and attempt software reset on error condition, and current parameter values to avoid unnecessary rewrites/reinitialization.