Livox ROS Driver

livox_ros_driver is a new ros package, which is designed to gradually become the standard driver package for livox devices in the ros environment.

Compile & Install Livox SDK

livox_ros_driver depends on Livox-SDK lib. If you have never installed Livox-SDK lib or it is out of date, you must first install Livox-SDK lib. If you have installed the latest version of Livox-SDK, skip this step and go to the next step.

1. Download or clone the Livox-SDK/Livox-SDK repository on GitHub.
2. Compile and install the Livox-SDK under the build directory following README.md of Livox-SDK/Livox-SDK.

Clone livox_ros_driver

1. Clone livox_ros_driver package for github:

   git clone https://github.com/Livox-SDK/livox_ros_driver.git ws_livox/src

2. Build livox_ros_driver package:

   cd ws_livox
   catkin_make
   

3. Package environment setup:

   source ./devel/setup.sh

Run livox ros driver

The driver offers users a wealth of options when using different launch file. There is bd_list arg in each launch file. All Livox LiDAR units in your LAN will be connected automatically in default.

e.g.

roslaunch livox_ros_driver livox_lidar_rviz.launch

If you want to connect to the specific LiDAR uint(s) only, please add the broadcast code into command line.

e.g.

roslaunch livox_ros_driver livox_lidar_rviz.launch bd_list:="broadcast_code1&broadcast_code2&broadcast_code3"

Features of .launch files are listed as below:

launch file	features
livox_lidar_rviz.launch	Connect to Livox LiDAR units Publish pointcloud2 format point cloud Automatically load rviz
livox_hub_rviz.launch	Connect to Livox Hub units Publish pointcloud2 format point cloud Automatically load rviz
livox_lidar.launch	Connect to Livox LiDAR units Publish pointcloud2 format point cloud
livox_hub.launch	Connect to Livox Hub units Publish pointcloud2 format point cloud
livox_lidar_msg.launch	Connect to Livox LiDAR units Publish livox custom format point cloud
livox_hub_msg.launch	Connect to Livox Hub units Publish livox custom format point cloud

Livox custom msg format：

Header header             # ROS standard message header
uint64 timebase           # The time of first point
uint32 point_num          # Total number of pointclouds
uint8  lidar_id           # Lidar device id number
uint8[3]  rsvd            # Reserved use
CustomPoint[] points      # Pointcloud data

pointcloud format:

uint32 offset_time      # offset time relative to the base time
float32 x               # X axis, unit:m
float32 y               # Y axis, unit:m
float32 z               # Z axis, unit:m
uint8 reflectivity      # reflectivity, 0~255
uint8 line              # laser number in lidar