ROS distance sensor usage¶

Distance sensor message¶

ArduPilot support distance sensor message both as input and output. The following chapters will explain you how to use distance sensor with ROS for :

Rangefinder : how to receive data from rangefinder plug in a FCU (e.g. pixhawk) and how to send data from ROS to FCU
Proximity : how to receive data from proximity lib from FCU and how to send 360 degrees lidar data to FCU

Rangefinder¶

Receive from FCU¶

Warning

Distance sensor message is currently support on :

ArduPilot Master
Copter >= 3.5.1 (Planned)
Rover >= 3.2.0 (Planned)
Plane >= 3.8.0 (Planned)

By default, ArduPilot will send distance sensors message for each rangefinder connected on FCU on Rover and only downward oriented (PITCH_270) on Copter and Plane. Example : launch SITL and add a analog rangefinder, see SITL instruction here. Launch MAVROS with default config. You should have rangefinder data in /mavros/distance_sensor/rangefinder_pub.

Configuration in apm_config.yaml:
distance_sensor:    <== plugin name
  rangefinder_pub:  <== ROS publisher name
    id: 0             <== sensor instance number starting at 0
    frame_id: "lidar" <== frame name for TF
    #orientation: PITCH_270 # sended by FCU
    field_of_view: 0.0  <== sensor FOV see `ROS instructions here <http://docs.ros.org/api/sensor_msgs/html/msg/Range.html>`__

Send to FCU¶

ArduPilot support receiving rangefinder data coming from Companion Computer for example. To do that, setup a MAVLink rangefinder on ArduPilot side and simply set a subscriber in MAVROS plugin :

Configuration in apm_config.yaml:
distance_sensor:       <== plugin name
  rangefinder_sub:     <== ROS subscriber name
    subscriber: true   <== set subscriber type
    id: 1              <== sensor instance number must match the one set on ArduPilot side
    orientation: PITCH_270  <== only that orientation are supported by Copter 3.4+

Now, publish a sensor_msgs/Range message on /mavros/distance_sensor/rangefinder_sub. Using a GCS, you can see data in rangefinder measurements.

Proximity¶

Warning

Work in progress

We are keen to improve ArduPilot’s support of ROS so if you find issues (such as commands that do not seem to be supported), please report them in the ArduPilot issues list with a title that includes “ROS” and we will attempt to resolve them as quickly as possible.