[Feature] Choose different read and write rate for the hardware components

doc/release_notes.rst

@@ -113,6 +113,44 @@ hardware_interface
 
 * Soft limits are also parsed from the URDF into the ``HardwareInfo`` structure for the defined joints (`#1488 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1488>`_)
 * Access to logger and clock through ``get_logger`` and ``get_clock`` methods in ResourceManager and HardwareComponents ``Actuator``, ``Sensor`` and ``System`` (`#1585 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1585>`_)
+* The ``ros2_control`` tag now supports parsing read/write rate ``rw_rate`` for the each hardware component parsed through the URDF (`#1570 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1570>`_)
+
+  .. code:: xml
+
+    <ros2_control name="RRBotSystemMutipleGPIOs" type="system" rw_rate="500">
+      <hardware>
+        <plugin>ros2_control_demo_hardware/RRBotSystemPositionOnlyHardware</plugin>
+        <param name="example_param_hw_start_duration_sec">2.0</param>
+        <param name="example_param_hw_stop_duration_sec">3.0</param>
+        <param name="example_param_hw_slowdown">2.0</param>
+      </hardware>
+      <joint name="joint1">
+        <command_interface name="position"/>
+        <command_interface name="velocity"/>
+        <state_interface name="position"/>
+      </joint>
+      <joint name="joint2">
+        <command_interface name="position"/>
+        <state_interface name="position"/>
+      </joint>
+    </ros2_control>
+    <ros2_control name="MultimodalGripper" type="actuator" rw_rate="200">
+      <hardware>
+        <plugin>ros2_control_demo_hardware/MultimodalGripper</plugin>
+      </hardware>
+      <joint name="parallel_fingers">
+        <command_interface name="position">
+          <param name="min">0</param>
+          <param name="max">100</param>
+        </command_interface>
+        <state_interface name="position"/>
+      </joint>
+      <gpio name="suction">
+        <command_interface name="suction"/>
+        <state_interface name="suction"/>
+      </gpio>
+    </ros2_control>
+
 * Added ``get_hardware_info`` method to the hardware components interface to access the ``HardwareInfo`` instead of accessing the variable ``info_`` directly (`#1643 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1643>`_)
 * With (`#1683 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1683>`_) the ``rclcpp_lifecycle::State & get_state()`` and ``void set_state(const rclcpp_lifecycle::State & new_state)`` are replaced by ``rclcpp_lifecycle::State & get_lifecycle_state()`` and ``void set_lifecycle_state(const rclcpp_lifecycle::State & new_state)``. This change affects controllers and hardware. This is related to (`#1240 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1240>`_) as variant support introduces ``get_state`` and ``set_state`` methods for setting/getting state of handles.
 * With (`#1421 <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/pull/1421>`_) a key-value storage is added to InterfaceInfo. This allows to define extra params with per Command-/StateInterface in the ``.ros2_control.xacro`` file.

hardware_interface/doc/different_update_rates_userdoc.rst

@@ -5,165 +5,86 @@
 Different update rates for Hardware Components
 ===============================================================================
 
-In the following sections you can find some advice which will help you to implement Hardware
-Components with update rates different from the main control loop.
-
-By counting loops
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-Current implementation of
-`ros2_control main node <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/blob/{REPOS_FILE_BRANCH}/controller_manager/src/ros2_control_node.cpp>`_
-has one update rate that controls the rate of the
-`read(...) <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/blob/0bdcd414c7ab8091f3e1b8d9b73a91c778388e82/hardware_interface/include/hardware_interface/system_interface.hpp#L175>`_
-and `write(...) <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/blob/fe462926416d527d1da163bc3eabd02ee1de9be9/hardware_interface/include/hardware_interface/system_interface.hpp#L178>`_
-calls in `hardware_interface(s) <https://github.com/ros-controls/ros2_control/blob/{REPOS_FILE_BRANCH}/hardware_interface/include/hardware_interface/system_interface.hpp>`_.
-To achieve different update rates for your hardware component you can use the following steps:
-
-.. _step-1:
-
-1. Add parameters of main control loop update rate and desired update rate for your hardware component
-
-  .. code:: xml
-
-    <?xml version="1.0"?>
-    <robot xmlns:xacro="http://www.ros.org/wiki/xacro">
-
-      <xacro:macro name="system_interface" params="name main_loop_update_rate desired_hw_update_rate">
-
-        <ros2_control name="${name}" type="system">
-          <hardware>
-              <plugin>my_system_interface/MySystemHardware</plugin>
-              <param name="main_loop_update_rate">${main_loop_update_rate}</param>
-              <param name="desired_hw_update_rate">${desired_hw_update_rate}</param>
-          </hardware>
-          ...
-        </ros2_control>
-
-      </xacro:macro>
-
-    </robot>
-
-.. _step-2:
-
-2. In you ``on_init()`` specific implementation fetch the desired parameters
-
-  .. code:: cpp
-
-    namespace my_system_interface
-    {
-    hardware_interface::CallbackReturn MySystemHardware::on_init(
-      const hardware_interface::HardwareInfo & info)
-    {
-      if (
-        hardware_interface::SystemInterface::on_init(info) !=
-        hardware_interface::CallbackReturn::SUCCESS)
-      {
-        return hardware_interface::CallbackReturn::ERROR;
-      }
-
-      //   declaration in *.hpp file --> unsigned int main_loop_update_rate_, desired_hw_update_rate_ = 100 ;
-      main_loop_update_rate_ = stoi(info_.hardware_parameters["main_loop_update_rate"]);
-      desired_hw_update_rate_ = stoi(info_.hardware_parameters["desired_hw_update_rate"]);
-
-      ...
-    }
-    ...
-    } // my_system_interface
-
-3. In your ``on_activate`` specific implementation reset internal loop counter
-
-  .. code:: cpp
-
-    hardware_interface::CallbackReturn MySystemHardware::on_activate(
-      const rclcpp_lifecycle::State & /*previous_state*/)
-    {
-        //   declaration in *.hpp file --> unsigned int update_loop_counter_ ;
-        update_loop_counter_ = 0;
-        ...
-    }
-
-4. In your ``read(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)``
-   and/or ``write(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)``
-   specific implementations decide if you should interfere with your hardware
-
-  .. code:: cpp
-
-    hardware_interface::return_type MySystemHardware::read(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)
-    {
-
-      bool hardware_go = main_loop_update_rate_ == 0  ||
-                        desired_hw_update_rate_ == 0 ||
-                        ((update_loop_counter_ % desired_hw_update_rate_) == 0);
-
-      if (hardware_go){
-        // hardware comms and operations
-        ...
-      }
-      ...
-
-      // update counter
-      ++update_loop_counter_;
-      update_loop_counter_ %= main_loop_update_rate_;
-    }
-
-By measuring elapsed time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-Another way to decide if hardware communication should be executed in the
-``read(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)`` and/or
-``write(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)``
-implementations is to measure elapsed time since last pass:
-
-1. In your ``on_activate`` specific implementation reset the flags that indicate
-   that this is the first pass of the ``read`` and ``write`` methods
-
-  .. code:: cpp
-
-    hardware_interface::CallbackReturn MySystemHardware::on_activate(
-      const rclcpp_lifecycle::State & /*previous_state*/)
-    {
-        //   declaration in *.hpp file --> bool first_read_pass_, first_write_pass_ = true ;
-        first_read_pass_ = first_write_pass_ = true;
-        ...
-    }
-
-2. In your ``read(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)``
-   and/or ``write(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)``
-   specific implementations decide if you should interfere with your hardware
-
-    .. code:: cpp
-
-      hardware_interface::return_type MySystemHardware::read(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)
-      {
-          if (first_read_pass_ || (time - last_read_time_ ) > desired_hw_update_period_)
-          {
-            first_read_pass_ = false;
-            //   declaration in *.hpp file --> rclcpp::Time last_read_time_ ;
-            last_read_time_ = time;
-            // hardware comms and operations
-            ...
-          }
-          ...
-      }
-
-      hardware_interface::return_type MySystemHardware::write(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period)
-      {
-          if (first_write_pass_ || (time - last_write_time_ ) > desired_hw_update_period_)
-          {
-            first_write_pass_ = false;
-            //   declaration in *.hpp file --> rclcpp::Time last_write_time_ ;
-            last_write_time_ = time;
-            // hardware comms and operations
-            ...
-          }
-          ...
-      }
+The ``ros2_control`` framework allows to run different hardware components at different update rates. This is useful when some of the hardware components needs to run at a different frequency than the traditional control loop frequency which is same as the one of the ``controller_manager``. It is very typical to have different components with different frequencies in a robotic system with different sensors or different components using different communication protocols.
+This is useful when you have a hardware component that needs to run at a higher rate than the rest of the components. For example, you might have a sensor that needs to be read at 1000Hz, while the rest of the components can run at 500Hz, given that the control loop frequency of the ``controller_manager`` is higher than 1000Hz. The read/write rate can be defined easily by adding the parameter ``rw_rate`` to the ``ros2_control`` tag of the hardware component.
+
+Examples
+*****************************
+The following examples show how to use the different hardware interface types with different update frequencies in a ``ros2_control`` URDF.
+They can be combined together within the different hardware component types (system, actuator, sensor) (:ref:`see detailed documentation <overview_hardware_components>`) as follows
+
+For a RRBot with Multimodal gripper and external sensor running at different rates:
+
+.. code-block:: xml
+
+  <ros2_control name="RRBotSystemMutipleGPIOs" type="system" rw_rate="500">
+    <hardware>
+      <plugin>ros2_control_demo_hardware/RRBotSystemPositionOnlyHardware</plugin>
+      <param name="example_param_hw_start_duration_sec">2.0</param>
+      <param name="example_param_hw_stop_duration_sec">3.0</param>
+      <param name="example_param_hw_slowdown">2.0</param>
+    </hardware>
+    <joint name="joint1">
+      <command_interface name="position">
+        <param name="min">-1</param>
+        <param name="max">1</param>
+      </command_interface>
+      <state_interface name="position"/>
+    </joint>
+    <joint name="joint2">
+      <command_interface name="position">
+        <param name="min">-1</param>
+        <param name="max">1</param>
+      </command_interface>
+      <state_interface name="position"/>
+    </joint>
+    <gpio name="flange_digital_IOs">
+      <command_interface name="digital_output1"/>
+      <state_interface name="digital_output1"/>    <!-- Needed to know current state of the output -->
+      <command_interface name="digital_output2"/>
+      <state_interface name="digital_output2"/>
+      <state_interface name="digital_input1"/>
+      <state_interface name="digital_input2"/>
+    </gpio>
+  </ros2_control>
+  <ros2_control name="MultimodalGripper" type="actuator" rw_rate="200">
+    <hardware>
+      <plugin>ros2_control_demo_hardware/MultimodalGripper</plugin>
+    </hardware>
+    <joint name="parallel_fingers">
+      <command_interface name="position">
+        <param name="min">0</param>
+        <param name="max">100</param>
+      </command_interface>
+      <state_interface name="position"/>
+    </joint>
+    <gpio name="suction">
+      <command_interface name="suction"/>
+      <state_interface name="suction"/>    <!-- Needed to know current state of the output -->
+    </gpio>
+  </ros2_control>
+  <ros2_control name="RRBotForceTorqueSensor2D" type="sensor" rw_rate="250">
+    <hardware>
+      <plugin>ros2_control_demo_hardware/ForceTorqueSensor2DHardware</plugin>
+      <param name="example_param_read_for_sec">0.43</param>
+    </hardware>
+    <sensor name="tcp_fts_sensor">
+      <state_interface name="fx"/>
+      <state_interface name="tz"/>
+      <param name="frame_id">kuka_tcp</param>
+      <param name="fx_range">100</param>
+      <param name="tz_range">100</param>
+    </sensor>
+    <sensor name="temp_feedback">
+      <state_interface name="temperature"/>
+    </sensor>
+    <gpio name="calibration">
+      <command_interface name="calibration_matrix_nr"/>
+      <state_interface name="calibration_matrix_nr"/>
+    </gpio>
+  </ros2_control>
+
+In the above example, the system hardware component that controls the joints of the RRBot is running at 500 Hz, the multimodal gripper is running at 200 Hz and the force torque sensor is running at 250 Hz.
 
 .. note::
-
-  The approach to get the desired update period value from the URDF and assign it to the variable
-  ``desired_hw_update_period_`` is the same as in the previous section (|step-1|_ and |step-2|_) but
-  with a different parameter name.
-
-.. |step-1| replace:: step 1
-.. |step-2| replace:: step 2
+  In the above example, the ``rw_rate`` parameter is set to 500 Hz, 200 Hz and 250 Hz for the system, actuator and sensor hardware components respectively. This parameter is optional and if not set, the default value of 0 will be used which means that the hardware component will run at the same rate as the ``controller_manager``. However, if the specified rate is higher than the ``controller_manager`` rate, the hardware component will then run at the rate of the ``controller_manager``.

hardware_interface/include/hardware_interface/actuator.hpp

@@ -95,15 +95,28 @@ class Actuator final
   HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
   const rclcpp_lifecycle::State & get_lifecycle_state() const;
 
+  HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
+  const rclcpp::Time & get_last_read_time() const;
+
+  HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
+  const rclcpp::Time & get_last_write_time() const;
+
   HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
   return_type read(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period);
 
   HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
   return_type write(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period);
 
+  HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
+  std::recursive_mutex & get_mutex();
+
 private:
   std::unique_ptr<ActuatorInterface> impl_;
   mutable std::recursive_mutex actuators_mutex_;
+  // Last read cycle time
+  rclcpp::Time last_read_cycle_time_;
+  // Last write cycle time
+  rclcpp::Time last_write_cycle_time_;
 };
 
 }  // namespace hardware_interface

hardware_interface/include/hardware_interface/hardware_component_info.hpp

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
+#include <rclcpp/time.hpp>
 #include "rclcpp_lifecycle/state.hpp"
 
 namespace hardware_interface
@@ -47,6 +48,12 @@ struct HardwareComponentInfo
   /// Component is async
   bool is_async;
 
+  //// read rate
+  unsigned int read_rate;
+
+  //// write rate
+  unsigned int write_rate;
+
   /// Component current state.
   rclcpp_lifecycle::State state;
 

hardware_interface/include/hardware_interface/hardware_info.hpp

@@ -174,6 +174,8 @@ struct HardwareInfo
   std::string type;
   ///  Hardware group to which the hardware belongs.
   std::string group;
+  /// Component's read and write rates in Hz.
+  unsigned int rw_rate;
   /// Component is async
   bool is_async;
   /// Name of the pluginlib plugin of the hardware that will be loaded.

hardware_interface/include/hardware_interface/sensor.hpp

@@ -82,15 +82,23 @@ class Sensor final
   HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
   const rclcpp_lifecycle::State & get_lifecycle_state() const;
 
+  HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
+  const rclcpp::Time & get_last_read_time() const;
+
   HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
   return_type read(const rclcpp::Time & time, const rclcpp::Duration & period);
 
   HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
   return_type write(const rclcpp::Time &, const rclcpp::Duration &) { return return_type::OK; }
 
+  HARDWARE_INTERFACE_PUBLIC
+  std::recursive_mutex & get_mutex();
+
 private:
   std::unique_ptr<SensorInterface> impl_;
   mutable std::recursive_mutex sensors_mutex_;
+  // Last read cycle time
+  rclcpp::Time last_read_cycle_time_;
 };
 
 }  // namespace hardware_interface