Velodyne Simulator

URDF description and Gazebo plugins to simulate Velodyne laser scanners

Features

• URDF with colored meshes
• Gazebo plugin based on gazebo_plugins/gazebo_ros_block_laser
• Publishes PointCloud2 with same structure (x, y, z, intensity, ring)
• Simulated Gaussian noise
• GPU acceleration (with a modern Gazebo build)
• Supported models:
  • VLP-16
  • HDL-32E
  • Pull requests for other models are welcome
• Experimental support for clipping low-intensity returns

Parameters

• *origin URDF transform from parent link.
• parent URDF parent link name. Default base_link
• name URDF model name. Also used as tf frame_id for PointCloud2 output. Default velodyne
• topic PointCloud2 output topic name. Default /velodyne_points
• hz Update rate in hz. Default 10
• lasers Number of vertical spinning lasers. Default VLP-16: 16, HDL-32E: 32
• samples Nuber of horizontal rotating samples. Default VLP-16: 1875, HDL-32E: 2187
• min_range Minimum range value in meters. Default 0.9
• max_range Maximum range value in meters. Default 130.0
• noise Gausian noise value in meters. Default 0.008
• min_angle Minimum horizontal angle in radians. Default -3.14
• max_angle Maximum horizontal angle in radians. Default 3.14
• gpu Use gpu_ray sensor instead of the standard ray sensor. Default false
• min_intensity The minimum intensity beneath which returns will be clipped. Can be used to remove low-intensity objects.

Known Issues

• At full sample resolution, Gazebo can take up to 30 seconds to load the VLP-16 pluggin, 60 seconds for the HDL-32E
• With the default Gazebo version shipped with ROS, ranges are incorrect when accelerated with the GPU option (issue,image)
  • Solution: Upgrade to a modern Gazebo version
• Gazebo cannot maintain 10Hz with large pointclouds
  • Solution: User can reduce number of points (samples) or frequency (hz) in the urdf parameters, see example.urdf.xacro
• Gazebo crashes when updating HDL-32E sensors with default number of points. "Took over 1.0 seconds to update a sensor."
  • Solution: User can reduce number of points in urdf (same as above)
• Gazebo versions in indigo and jade have different z orientations
  • Solution: Maintain separate branches for urdf changes (gazebo2 and master)

Example Gazebo Robot

roslaunch velodyne_description example.launch

Example Gazebo Robot (with GPU)

roslaunch velodyne_description example.launch gpu:=true