Leddar ROS Package

This ROS package configures and communicates with LeddarTech devices using their SDK. This has only been tested on ROS Indigo and Jade with their Sensor Evaluation Kit.

This package was originally based on the work here: [jpmerc/leddartech] (https://github.com/jpmerc/leddartech).

Setting up

You must clone this repository as leddar into your catkin workspace:

git clone https://github.com/mcgill-robotics/ros-leddar.git leddar

Udev rules

To set up udev rules for your device, simply run:

sudo useradd -G plugdev ${USER}
sudo cp 10-leddartech.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm trigger

You might have to restart for this to take effect. Note that these rules might only work for the Sensor Evaluation Kit.

LeddarTech Driver

Register for an account at support.leddartech.com and download SDK for your target platform. Current supported version is v2.10.x. Extract the archive and move the *.so files into a directory of your choice, usually /usr/lib. This folder will be your ${LEDDAR_LIB_DIR} directory.

Compiling

You must compile this package before being able to run it. You can do so by running:

export LEDDAR_LIB_DIR=/path/to/driver
catkin_make

from the root of your workspace.

Running

To run, simply connect the LeddarTech leddar over RS232 and launch the package with:

roslaunch leddar leddar.launch serial:=<serial> frame:=<frame_id> fov:=<fov> range:=<range>

serial, frame, fov and range are run-time ROS launch arguments:

• serial: Serial number of the device to connect to, default: only one connected.
• frame: tf frame to stamp the messages with, default: leddar.
• fov: Field of view of the device in degrees, default: 45.0 degrees.
• range: Maximum range of the device in meters, default: 50.0 meters.

The leddar node will output to the following ROS topic:

• ~scan: LaserScan message. Scan data.

Configuring

To configure the device, take a look at the parameters defined in Scan.cfg.

These paramaters can also be updated on the fly with ROS dynamic_reconfigure as such:

rosrun rqt_reconfigure rqt_reconfigure

Visualizing

The scan data can be conveniently visualized with rviz.

You should be able to see something like this: