Dev: Document the ROS 2 interface

Signed-off-by: Ryan Friedman <[email protected]>
ArduPilot · Nov 8, 2024 · 49652c9 · 49652c9
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diff --git a/dev/source/docs/ros.rst b/dev/source/docs/ros.rst
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ ROS 2
 
         Install ROS 2 <ros2>
         ROS 2 with SITL <ros2-sitl>
+        ROS 2 Interfaces <ros2-interfaces>
         ROS 2 with SITL in Gazebo <ros2-gazebo>
         ROS 2 over Ethernet <ros2-over-ethernet>
         ROS 2 waypoint goal interface <ros2-waypoint-goal-interface>

diff --git a/dev/source/docs/ros2-interfaces.rst b/dev/source/docs/ros2-interfaces.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,249 @@
+.. _ros2-interfaces:
+
+=================
+ROS 2 Interfaces
+=================
+
+The purpose of this page is to document all the ROS 2 interfaces available in ArduPilot.
+Content is organized by functional area the data is used.
+
+Sensors
+=======
+
+ArduPilot exposes "sensor" type data over DDS, that usually corresponds to a physical component, or some filterered version of it.
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+   <table border="1" class="docutils">
+   <tbody>
+   <tr>
+   <th>Topic Name</th>
+   <th>Topic Type</th>
+   <th>Description</th>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/navsat/navsat0</td>
+   <td>sensor_msgs/msg/NavSatFix</td> 
+   <td>This is the reported GPS sensor position from the GPS subsystem.
+   TODO It will include a frame ID as instance number</td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/battery</td>
+   <td>sensor_msgs/msg/BatteryState</td> 
+   <td>This sends the battery state for each enabled battery.
+   The battery instance is available in the frame ID.
+   Each enabled battery will be have data published.
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/imu/experimental/data</td>
+   <td>sensor_msgs/msg/IMU</td>
+   <td>This is the high rate IMU data from the IMU that is currently used in the EKF.</td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/airspeed</td>
+   <td>geometry_msgs/msg/Vector3Stamped</td>
+   <td>This is the 3D airspeed estimate of the vehicle in body frame.</td>
+   </tr>
+   </tbody>
+   </table>
+
+Pose, Rates, and Coordinates
+============================
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+   <table border="1" class="docutils">
+   <tbody>
+   <tr>
+   <th>Topic Name</th>
+   <th>Topic Type</th>
+   <th>Description</th>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/gps_global_origin/filtered</td>
+   <td>geographic_msgs/msg/GeoPointStamped</td> 
+   <td>This is the filtered AHRS's inertial navigation origin. This is NOT the same ask the HOME location.
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/twist/filtered</td>
+   <td>geometry_msgs/msg/TwistStamped</td> 
+   <td>This is the filtered AHRS's velocity in the local ENU frame relative to home.</td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/geopose/filtered</td>
+   <td>geographic_msgs/msg/GeoPoseStamped</td> 
+   <td>This is the filtered AHRS's pose (position+orientation) in global coordinates</td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/tf_static</td>
+   <td>tf2_msgs/msg/TFMessage</td> 
+   <td>AP broadcasts its known static transforms on this topic.
+   The transforms include the GPS sensor offsets relative to the vehicle origin.</td>
+   </tr>
+   </tbody>
+   </table>
+
+Time
+====
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+   <table border="1" class="docutils">
+   <tbody>
+   <tr>
+   <th>Topic Name</th>
+   <th>Topic Type</th>
+   <th>Description</th>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/time</td>
+   <td>builtin_interface/msg/Time</td> 
+   <td>This sends time from AP's real time clock.</td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/clock</td>
+   <td>rosgraph_msgs/msg/Clock</td> 
+   <td>This sends time from AP's real time clock in a format suitable for aligning ROS time of a companion computer.</td>
+   </tr>
+   </tbody>
+   </table>
+
+Control
+=======
+
+The control interfaces are how a companion computer can command the autopilot to move
+either it's control surfaces, motors, or tell the autopilot to control to a setpoint position, velocity, acceleration.
+Control includes the high level navigation objectives.
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+   <table border="1" class="docutils">
+   <tbody>
+   <tr>
+    <th>Topic Name</th>
+    <th>Topic Type</th>
+    <th>Description</th>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/joy</td>
+   <td>sensor_msgs/msg/Joy</td> 
+   <td>Receive joystick commands that override the RC input.</td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/cmd_vel</td>
+   <td>geometry_msgs/msg/TwistStamped</td> 
+   <td>Receive REP-147 velocity commands.
+    Some vehicles support body frame while others support earth frame. 
+   </td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/cmd_gps_pose</td>
+   <td>ardupilot_msgs/msg/GlobalPosition</td> 
+   <td>Receive REP-147 "High level goal".
+    This message is called "GlobalPosition" in REP-147.
+    Consult the source code to determine which fields are supported on which vehicles.
+    </td>
+   </tr>
+   </tbody>
+   </table>
+
+For more information on the high level goal interface,
+see the :ref:`Waypoint Goal Interface<ros2-waypoint-goal-interface>` 
+
+Commands
+========
+
+ArduPilot exposes service servers for the following purposes:
+
+* Pre-arm check
+* Arming
+* Changing modes
+* Takeoff (copter only)
+
+Odometry
+========
+
+Ardupilot may not have a good estimate of where it is relative to where it started moving.
+A companion computer can interface with sensors that provide odometry, which is the computation of the dynamic transform
+from the ``odom`` frame to the ``base_link`` frame. This data is fed into ArduPilot's ``AP_VisualOdom`` library.
+This data may come from visual sensors, however other technologies such as radar and lidar can 
+also provide odometry data. Regardless of the method of odometry, 
+ArduPilot has a single ROS interface to receive it.
+
+This data typically comes from a `TF2 Transfrom Tree <https://docs.ros.org/en/humble/Tutorials/Intermediate/Tf2/Tf2-Main.html>`_.
+For more information on the coordinate systems used, review `ROS REP-105 <https://www.ros.org/reps/rep-0105.html>`_.
+
+.. raw:: html
+
+   <table border="1" class="docutils">
+   <tbody>
+   <tr>
+   <th>Topic Name</th>
+   <th>Topic Type</th>
+   <th>Description</th>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   <td>ap/tf</td>
+   <td>tf2_msgs/msg/TFMessage</td> 
+   <td>Receive the odometry dynamic transform on the normal tf2 dynamic transform topic.</td>
+   </tr>
+   <tr>
+   </tbody>
+   </table>
+
+
+Configuring Interfaces at Compile Time
+======================================
+
+ArduPilot strives to only consume the resources it needs.
+The DDS interface is no exception.
+
+Every topic and service can be individually enabled or disabled
+at compile time. See 
+:ref:`common-oem-customizations`.
+
+Refer to the `AP_DDS_Config.h <https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/blob/master/libraries/AP_DDS/AP_DDS_config.h>`_
+file on what is exposed.
+
+Additionally, publish rates form ArduPilot also all indivually configurable at compile time.
+
+When deploying ArduPilot on a resource constrained autopilot, developers
+can disable interfaces they do not use and tune data rates to only
+what their applications need.
+
+Adding New Interfaces
+=====================
+
+ArduPilot's DDS interface is designed to be extensible.
+Interfaces for pub/sub and services are easily added.
+
+If the interfaces are generic, consider contributing them to ArduPilot.
+Custom application-specific interfaces are also easy to add and maintain
+on private forks of ArduPilot.
+
+Interfaces that use custom messages that aren't already used commonly in
+the ROS 2 ecosystem are typically added with an ``experimental`` designator.
+
+
+ABI Stability Guarantees
+========================
+
+ArduPilot's DDS interface is intended to be ABI stable within an ArduPilot minor release.
+Common interfaces such as ``NavSatFix`` are unlikely to change, however experimental interfaces
+such as ``IMU`` may change, and are denoted with the ``experimental`` topic prefix.
+In extenuating circumstances, non-experimental topics may require bugfixes that
+change behavior, however message definitions will be kept compatible.
+
+Because the ROS way of updating messages is to not change messages
+within a ROS release, many tools do not cope well with messages.
+Different versions of the message between an autopilot and companion computer
+can lead to receiving junk data without any errors, or cryptic serialization
+errors. Thus, ArduPilot will do it's best to avoid changing messages.
+If breaking changes are required, the ArduPilot release notes will make that clear.
+
+Developers should not expect ABI stability on ``exerimental`` interfaces.
+
+Because ArduPilot does not follow the same release timeline as ROS 2, and
+the development team for the ROS interface still in its early stages,
+ArduPilot does not yet support a stable ABI across multiple ROS distributions.
+The current ROS version supported is ``humble``.