ROS2 RIEGL VZ Package

This is a ROS2 package for the RIEGL VZ-i series devices. The package has been tested with:

• ROS2 Galactic Geochelone on Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 (Focal Fossa)
• ROS2 Humble Hawksbill on Ubuntu Desktop 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish)

It provides a ROS interface with services and topics for scan data acquisition and scan position registration with a 3D laser scanner.
In detail, it provides the following functions:

• Create a project on the laser scanner device

• Configure the the laser scanner, including configuration of the scan pattern and the measurement program as well as the storage device for data logging on the device

• Start a scan data acquisition with
  • optional scan registration
  • optional reflector scan and search
  • optional camera image capture

• Publish the 3D point cloud in ROS

• Publish voxel grid in ROS

• Publish scan position resulting from scan registration, position is in scanner project coordinates or referenced to a global geographic coordinate system

• Use of position and orientation data from a robot to improve the scan position registration algorithm.

• Publish the device status (memory usage, error stack, …) and data acquisition progress information

• Publish positional data from the GNSS receiver in the laser scanner

ROS2 installation and setup:

Follow ROS2 installation instructions on https://docs.ros.org/en/galactic/Installation/Ubuntu-Development-Setup.html.

Configure the ROS2 environment according to https://docs.ros.org/en/galactic/Tutorials/Configuring-ROS2-Environment.html.

Create a new workspace (https://docs.ros.org/en/galactic/Tutorials/Workspace/Creating-A-Workspace.html) and clone repository into subdirectory ‘src’.

Install diagnostics updater package:

```sudo apt-get install ros-galactic-diagnostic-updater

**Install tf2 packages:**


```sudo apt-get install ros-galactic-tf2-tools ros-galactic-tf-transformations

Install python requirements:

Switch to ‘src’ subdirectory and install required python modules:

```python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

**Install python wheel with rdb library:**

Find an appropriate python wheel for the rdb library in the 'librdb/' subfolder of the repository  
or send a request to RIEGL support: support@riegl.com.  
The wheel includes a shared linux library must be appropriate for the target processor architecture.  
Install the wheel, e.g. for x86_64:


```pip3 install riegl.rdb-2.4.0-cp34.cp35.cp36.cp37.cp38.cp39.cp310-none-linux_x86_64.whl

Note: At least version 2.4.0 is required for the ROS package to work.

Build package:

Switch to workspace root directory.

```colcon build

**Start 'riegl_vz' node:**

Open a second terminal. Execute '. install/setup.bash'.

Find .yaml files for configuration of node parameters in package install directory at: **install/riegl_vz/share/riegl_vz/config/**.

Copy **params_default.yaml** to **params.yaml** and edit parameter settings.

Launch 'riegl_vz' node with parameter settings from params.yaml:


```ros2 launch riegl_vz std_launch.py

Trigger a scan data acquisition:

Open another terminal. Execute ‘. install/setup.bash’.

Execute the scan trigger service:

```ros2 service call /scan std_srvs/srv/Trigger

**Visualize scan data point cloud with rviz:**

Start 'rviz' tool:


```rviz2

Set ‘fixed-frame’ in ‘Global Options’ to ‘riegl_vz_socs’. Activate ‘PointCloud2’ plugin and bind it to riegl_vz/pointcloud topic:

Monitor ‘riegl_vz’ node with foxglove-studio:

Install foxglove-studio from https://foxglove.dev.

Start ‘foxglove-studio’:

Import layout from foxglove/diagnostics.json..

and open a data source, e.g. open live connection.