ISAAC Sim PCD Converter ROS 2 Package

Overview

This ROS 2 package processes LiDAR point cloud data to include additional fields such as ring, intensity and time, for ISAAC SIM. It dynamically subscribes to a specified topic for input data, computes the ring ID, intensity and time offset for each point, and republishes the augmented point cloud to an output topic.

The package supports dynamic configuration of parameters like the number of vertical beams (N_SCAN) and horizontal resolution (Horizon_SCAN) through launch file arguments.

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Installation

sudo xargs -a requirements.txt apt install -y

Running the Node

To launch the node with dynamic parameters:

ros2 launch isaac_sim_pointcloud_full_publisher full_pcd_pub.launch.py robot_namespace:=scout_1_1 config_file:=velodyne_vls_128.yaml

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Output

Dependencies

• ROS 2 (Humble or later)
• rclcpp
• sensor_msgs
• std_msgs
• PCL (Point Cloud Library)
• pcl_conversions

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Topics

Topic Name	Type	Role
/robot_namespace/scan3D	sensor_msgs/msg/PointCloud2	Subscriber
/robot_namespace/scan3D_with_rings	sensor_msgs/msg/PointCloud2	Publisher

Note: Replace robot_namespace with the desired namespace using the launch file argument.

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Parameters

Launch Parameter Name	Default Value	Description
robot_namespace	robot_x	Namespace of the robot used in the topic names.

Below config for Velodyne VLS128.

Config Parameter Name	Default Value	Description
lidar_name	velodyne	(velodyne, Ouster, and any lidar supported by Isaac SIM)
vertical_channels	128	Number of vertical beams (LiDAR channels).
horizontal_resolution	1800	Horizontal resolution (points per scan).
fov_bottom	-25	FoV below horizon
fov_top	15	FoV above horizon.
min_dist	1.0	Minimum range of the LiDAR.
max_dist	120.0	Maximum range of the LiDAR.

To create a new params file, use the above parameters, and place it under /Params.

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Supported LiDAR Configuration

This package is tested with the following LiDAR configuration:

• Beams: 128
• Points per Scan: 2048
• Frame ID: "LiDAR"
• Ring Field: Calculated dynamically based on vertical angle.

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Building the Package

colcon build --packages-select isaac_sim_pointcloud_full_publisher

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Example Visualization

To visualize the output point cloud with the ring field:

rviz2

• Add a PointCloud2 display.
• Set the topic to /robot_namespace/scan3D_with_rings.
• Use Color Transformer -> AxisColor to view different ring IDs.

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License

This package is released under the Apache 2.0 License.