Operating the Vehicle#

Before reading this article, please make sure you followed the Software Installation and built the project. The project repository has a launch file autosdv.launch.yaml that defines the set of nodes to be executed and assigned parameters to start the whole driving system.

The Simple Way#

The project uses Just for command running. Run just to see all available commands.

just launch

Customize the Launch#

You can either modify the launch file directly located here:

AutoSDV/src/launcher/autosdv_launch/launch/autosdv.launch.yaml

or assign argument values to the launch command. For example, to use Isaac Visual SLAM for localization:

source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch autosdv_launch autosdv.launch.yaml pose_source:=isaac

Or to run in simulation mode without hardware:

ros2 launch autosdv_launch autosdv.launch.yaml is_simulation:=true

Common Arguments#

Argument	Description	Default
`is_simulation`	Enable simulation mode (disables PWM output to hardware)	`false`
`sensor_suite`	Predefined sensor suite (robin_zed, vlp32c_zed_imu, etc.)	`vlp32c_zed_imu`
`lidar_model`	LiDAR model (cube1, robin-w, vlp32c)	(from suite)
`camera_model`	Camera model (zedxm, usb, none)	(from suite)
`imu_source`	IMU source (mpu9250, zed)	(from suite)
`gnss_receiver`	GNSS receiver type (ublox, septentrio, garmin)	(from suite)
`use_gnss`	Enable GNSS for outdoor operation	(from suite)
`use_ntrip`	Enable NTRIP client for RTK corrections	`true`
`use_mapless_mode`	Enable mapless mode for indoor operation	`false`
`pose_source`	Pose estimation source (ndt, isaac)	`ndt`
`enable_zed_object_detection`	Enable ZED camera object detection	(from suite)
`launch_perception`	Launch perception module (object detection)	`true`

For a complete list of arguments, see the main launch file.

Common Operations#

Visualization and Monitoring#

Launch drive monitor TUI (shows pose, speed, component states):

just tool-tui

Launch RViz for 3D visualization:

just tool-rviz

Launch PlotJuggler for real-time data plotting:

just tool-plotjuggler

Manual Control#

Launch keyboard-based manual control:

just tool-controller

Testing Control System#

Test the basic control system:

just control-basic

Run predefined trajectories:

just control-straight  # Drive 10m straight
just control-circle    # Drive in a circle

Recording and Playback#

Record sensor data during outdoor operation:

just bag-record

Play back the most recent recording:

just bag-play