Nebula is a sensor driver platform that is designed to provide a unified framework for as wide a variety of devices as possible. While it primarily targets Ethernet-based LiDAR sensors, it aims to be easily extendable to support new sensors and interfaces. Nebula provides the following features:
- Support for Velodyne and Hesai sensors, with other LiDAR vendor support under development
- ROS 2 interface implementations
- TCP/IP and UDP communication implementations
- Abstraction of sensor decoders and hardware interfaces available as libraries
- Handling of standard LiDAR functionality, including but not limited to:
- Configuration of communication settings such as sensor and host IP addresses and communication ports
- Configuration of scan speed, synchronization settings, scan phase, and field of view
- Receiving and conversion of UDP packet data into point clouds in Cartesian co-ordinates
- Receiving and interpretation of diagnostics information from the sensor
- Support for multiple return modes and labelling of return types for each point
With a rapidly increasing number of sensor types and models becoming available, and varying levels of vendor and third-party driver support, Nebula creates a centralized driver methodology. We hope that this project will be used to facilitate active collaboration and efficiency in development projects by providing a platform that reduces the need to re-implement and maintain many different sensor drivers. Contributions to extend the supported devices and features of Nebula are always welcome.
Nebula builds on ROS Galactic and Humble.
Note
A TCP enabled version of ROS' Transport Driver is required to use Nebula. It is installed automatically into your workspace using the below commands. However, if you already have ROS transport driver binaries installed, you will have to uninstall them to avoid conflicts (replace
humblewith your ROS distribution):sudo apt remove ros-humble-udp-driver ros-humble-io-context
To build Nebula run the following commands in your workspace:
# In workspace
mkdir src
git clone https://github.com/tier4/nebula.git src
# Import dependencies
vcs import src < src/build_depends.repos
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src -y -r
# Build Nebula
colcon build --symlink-install --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=ReleaseRun tests:
colcon test --event-handlers console_cohesion+ --packages-above nebula_commonShow results:
colcon test-result --allYou can easily run the sensor hardware interface, the sensor hardware monitor and sensor driver using (e.g. Pandar64):
ros2 launch nebula_ros nebula_launch.py sensor_model:=Pandar64If you don't want to launch the hardware (i.e. when you are working from a rosbag), set the launch_hw flag to false:
ros2 launch nebula_ros nebula_launch.py sensor_model:=Pandar64 launch_hw:=falseIf you don't want the hardware driver to perform the sensor configuration communication (i.e. limited number of connections) set the setup_sensor flag to false:
ros2 launch nebula_ros nebula_launch.py sensor_model:=Pandar64 setup_sensor:=falseYou should ideally provide a config file for your specific sensor, but default ones are provided nebula_drivers/config:
ros2 launch nebula_ros nebula_launch.py sensor_model:=Pandar64 config_file:=your_sensor.yamlSupported models, where sensor_model is the ROS param to be used at launch:
| Manufacturer | Model | sensor_model | Configuration file | Test status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HESAI | Pandar 64 | Pandar64 | Pandar64.yaml | ✔️ |
| HESAI | Pandar 40P | Pandar40P | Pandar40P.yaml | ✔️ |
| HESAI | Pandar XT32 | PandarXT32 | PandarXT32.yaml | ✔️ |
| HESAI | Pandar XT32M | PandarXT32M | PandarXT32M.yaml | |
| HESAI | Pandar QT64 | PandarQT64 | PandarQT64.yaml | ✔️ |
| HESAI | Pandar QT128 | PandarQT128 | PandarQT128.yaml | |
| HESAI | Pandar AT128 | PandarAT128 | PandarAT128.yaml | ✔️* |
| HESAI | Pandar 128E4X | Pandar128E4X | Pandar128E4X.yaml | |
| Velodyne | VLP-16 | VLP16 | VLP16.yaml | |
| Velodyne | VLP-16-HiRes | VLP16 | ❌ | |
| Velodyne | VLP-32 | VLP32 | VLP32.yaml | |
| Velodyne | VLS-128 | VLS128 | VLS128.yaml |
Test status:
✔️: complete
❌: untested
*: AT128 needs software version 3.50.8 or newer for the scan_angle setting to work correctly.
Parameters shared by all supported models:
| Parameter | Type | Default | Accepted values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sensor_model | string | See supported models | ||
| return_mode | string | See supported return modes | ||
| frame_id | string | Sensor dependent | ROS frame ID | |
| scan_phase | double | 0.0 | degrees [0.0, 360.0] | Scan start angle |
| Sensor model | return_mode | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Pandar XT32M | Last | Single |
| Pandar XT32M | Strongest | Single |
| Pandar XT32M | LastStrongest | Dual |
| Pandar XT32M | First | Single |
| Pandar XT32M | LastFirst | Dual |
| Pandar XT32M | FirstStrongest | Dual |
| Pandar XT32M | Dual | Dual |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pandar AT128 | Last | Single |
| Pandar AT128 | Strongest | Single |
| Pandar AT128 | LastStrongest | Dual |
| Pandar AT128 | First | Single |
| Pandar AT128 | LastFirst | Dual |
| Pandar AT128 | FirstStrongest | Dual |
| Pandar AT128 | Dual | Dual |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pandar QT128 | Last | Single |
| Pandar QT128 | Strongest | Single |
| Pandar QT128 | LastStrongest | Dual |
| Pandar QT128 | First | Single |
| Pandar QT128 | LastFirst | Dual |
| Pandar QT128 | FirstStrongest | Dual |
| Pandar QT128 | Dual | Dual |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pandar QT64 | Last | Single |
| Pandar QT64 | Dual | Dual |
| Pandar QT64 | First | Single |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pandar 40P | Last | Single |
| Pandar 40P | Strongest | Single |
| Pandar 40P | Dual | Dual |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pandar 64 | Last | Single |
| Pandar 64 | Strongest | Single |
| Pandar 64 | Dual | Dual |
| Parameter | Type | Default | Accepted values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| frame_id | string | hesai | ROS frame ID | |
| sensor_ip | string | 192.168.1.201 | Sensor IP | |
| host_ip | string | 255.255.255.255 | Host IP | |
| data_port | uint16 | 2368 | Sensor port | |
| gnss_port | uint16 | 2369 | GNSS port | |
| frequency_ms | uint16 | 100 | milliseconds, > 0 | Time per scan |
| packet_mtu_size | uint16 | 1500 | Packet MTU size | |
| rotation_speed | uint16 | 600 | Rotation speed | |
| cloud_min_angle | uint16 | 0 | degrees [0, 360] | FoV start angle |
| cloud_max_angle | uint16 | 359 | degrees [0, 360] | FoV end angle |
| dual_return_distance_threshold | double | 0.1 | Dual return distance threshold | |
| diag_span | uint16 | 1000 | milliseconds, > 0 | Diagnostic span |
| setup_sensor | bool | True | True, False | Configure sensor settings |
| Parameter | Type | Default | Accepted values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| frame_id | string | hesai | ROS frame ID | |
| calibration_file | string | LiDAR calibration file | ||
| correction_file | string | LiDAR correction file |
| return_mode | Mode |
|---|---|
| SingleFirst | Single (First) |
| SingleStrongest | Single (Strongest) |
| SingleLast | Single (Last) |
| Dual | Dual |
| Parameter | Type | Default | Accepted values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| frame_id | string | velodyne | ROS frame ID | |
| sensor_ip | string | 192.168.1.201 | Sensor IP | |
| host_ip | string | 255.255.255.255 | Host IP | |
| data_port | uint16 | 2368 | Sensor port | |
| gnss_port | uint16 | 2369 | GNSS port | |
| frequency_ms | uint16 | 100 | milliseconds, > 0 | Time per scan |
| packet_mtu_size | uint16 | 1500 | Packet MTU size | |
| cloud_min_angle | uint16 | 0 | degrees [0, 360] | FoV start angle |
| cloud_max_angle | uint16 | 359 | degrees [0, 360] | FoV end angle |
| Parameter | Type | Default | Accepted values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| frame_id | string | velodyne | ROS frame ID | |
| calibration_file | string | LiDAR calibration file | ||
| min_range | double | 0.3 | meters, >= 0.3 | Minimum point range published |
| max_range | double | 300.0 | meters, <= 300.0 | Maximum point range published |
| cloud_min_angle | uint16 | 0 | degrees [0, 360] | FoV start angle |
| cloud_max_angle | uint16 | 359 | degrees [0, 360] | FoV end angle |
You can evaluate Nebula performance on a given rosbag and sensor model using the below tools.
The profiling runner is most accurate when assigning isolated cores via the -c <core_id>.
CPU frequencies are locked/unlocked automatically by the runner to increase repeatability.
Run profiling for each version you want to compare:
./scripts/profiling_runner.bash baseline -m Pandar64 -b ~/my_rosbag -c 2 -t 20 -n 3
git checkout my_improved_branch
./scripts/profiling_runner.bash improved -m Pandar64 -b ~/my_rosbag -c 2 -t 20 -n 3Show results:
pip3 install scripts/requirements.txt # first-time setup
python3 scripts/plot_times.py baseline improved