Velodyne-ROS 2

Section 0: Prerequisites

1. Setting Up Your Computer to Communicate with the Velodyne Sensor

a) Power the LiDAR Sensor

Use the included power adapter to connect and power the Velodyne VLP-16 sensor.

b) Connect the LiDAR via Ethernet

Plug the sensor’s Ethernet cable into your computer’s Ethernet port.

c) Configure Your Computer's IP Address

Set your computer’s Ethernet IP address to be on the same subnet as the sensor.
For example, if your Velodyne sensor has an IP 192.168.1.201, set your PC's IP to something like 192.168.1.30.

d) Checking the configurations

To check the connection open your web browser and access the following sensor’s network address: 192.168.XX.YY. The following page should appear:

e) Install the ROS Dependencies

sudo apt-get install ros-VERSION-velodyne

f) Clone or download the ROS-Velodyne Drivers

1. Clone the Velodyne ROS 2 Repository

cd ~/ros2_vp/src/
git clone https://github.com/ros-drivers/velodyne-ros2.git

Section 1: Workspace Setup

1. Source Your ROS 2 Workspace

source ~/ros2_vp/install/setup.bash

2. Navigate to Your Project Directory a) Go to the velodyne-ros2 package directory

 cd ~/ros2_vp/velodyne-ros2

Section 1: Launch the Velodyne-ROS2 drivers

1. Launch the Velodyne Driver Node: This node reads raw data packets from the VLP16 sensor.

   ros2 launch velodyne_driver velodyne_driver_node-VLP16-launch.py

Section 2: Launch the Velodyne Transform Node

This node converts the raw packets into point cloud data using correction parameters.

ros2 launch velodyne_pointcloud velodyne_transform_node-VLP16-composed-launch.py

Section 3: Visualize the data in Rviz2

rviz2

1. Set the fixed frame to velodyne
2. Go to Add option in bottom left screen and click on add.
3. Select by topic and add point cloud to view the data