HesaiLidar_General_ROS

About the project

HesaiLidar_General_ROS project includes the ROS Driver for：
PandarQT/Pandar64/Pandar40P/Pandar20A/Pandar20B/Pandar40M/PandarXT
LiDAR sensor manufactured by Hesai Technology.

Developed based on HesaiLidar_General_SDK, After launched, the project will monitor UDP packets from Lidar, parse data and publish point cloud frames into ROS under topic: /pandar. It can also be used as an official demo showing how to work with HesaiLidar_General_SDK.

Environment and Dependencies

System environment requirement: Linux + ROS

　Recommanded:
　Ubuntu 16.04 - with ROS kinetic desktop-full installed or
　Ubuntu 18.04 - with ROS melodic desktop-full installed
　Check resources on http://ros.org for installation guide

Library Dependencies: libpcap-dev + libyaml-cpp-dev

$sudo apt install libpcap-dev libyaml-cpp-dev

Download and Build

Install catkin_tools

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install python-catkin-tools

Download code

$ mkdir -p rosworkspace/src
$ cd rosworkspace/src
$ git clone https://github.com/HesaiTechnology/HesaiLidar_General_ROS.git --recursive

Build

$ cd ..
$ catkin config --install
$ catkin build --force-cmake

Configuration

 $ gedit install/share/hesai_lidar/launch/hesai_lidar.launch

Reciving data from connected Lidar: config lidar ip&port, leave the pcap_file empty

Parameter	Default Value
server_ip	192.168.1.201
lidar_recv_port	2368
gps_recv_port	10110
pcap_file

Data source will be from connected Lidar when "pcap_file" set to empty Make sure parameters above set to the same with Lidar setting

Reciving data from pcap file: config pcap_file and correction file path

Parameter	Value
pcap_file	pcap file path
lidar_correction_file	lidar correction file path

Data source will be from pcap file once "pcap_file" not empty

Run

1. Make sure current path in the rosworkspace directory

$ source install/setup.bash

for PandarQT
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="PandarQT"
for Pandar64
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="Pandar64"
for Pandar20A
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="Pandar20A"
for Pandar20B
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="Pandar20B"
for Pandar40P
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="Pandar40P"
for Pandar40M
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="Pandar40M"
for PandarXT-32
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="PandarXT-32"
for PandarXT-16
$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch lidar_type:="PandarXT-16"

2. The driver will publish PointCloud messages to the topic /pandar
3. Open Rviz and add display by topic
4. Change fixed frame to lidar_type to view published point clouds

Details of launch file parameters and utilities

Parameter	Default Value
pcap_file	Path of the pcap file, once not empty, driver will get data from pcap file instead of a connected Lidar
server_ip	The IP address of connected Lidar, will be used to get calibration file
lidar_recv_port	The destination port of Lidar, driver will monitor this port to get point cloud packets from Lidar
gps_port	The destination port for Lidar GPS packets, driver will monitor this port to get GPS packets from Lidar
start_angle	Driver will publish one frame point cloud data when azimuth angel step over start_angle, make sure set to within FOV
lidar_type	Lidar module type, will be used also as frame id
pcldata_type	0:mixed point cloud data type 1:structured point cloud data type
publish_type	default "points":publish point clouds "raw":publish raw UDP packets "both":publish point clouds and UDP packets
timestamp_type	default "": use timestamp from Lidar "realtime" use timestamp from the system driver running on
data_type	default "":driver will get point cloud packets from Lidar or PCAP "rosbag":driver will subscribe toic /pandar_packets to get point cloud packets
lidar_correction_file	Path of correction file, will be used when not able to get correction file from a connected Liar

Publish raw UDP packets to ROS

set "publish_model" to "raw" or "both" then launch driver
The driver will publish a raw data packet message in the topic

/pandar_packets

Record and parse raw UDP packets from ROS topic

1. record raw data rosbag

$rosbag record -b 4096 /pandar_packets

2. stop rosbag record by "Ctrl + C", a rosbag file will be generated in the terminal working path

3. play raw data rosbag $rosbag play <rosbagfile> this will publish raw udp packets to ROS under the topic /pandar_packets

4. set "data_type" in launch file to "rosbag", set correct "lidar_type", launch driver

$ roslaunch hesai_lidar hesai_lidar.launch

5. Driver will get data from the /pandar_packets topic, parse and publish point cloud to /pandar_points, open Rviz and add display by topic.
6. Change fixed frame to lidar_type to view published point clouds