ROS2 Integration for Water Linked 3D Sonar Driver

This section describes the ROS2 package for the Water Linked Sonar 3D-15.

Build Instructions

./build.sh

Run Instructions

./run.sh

Directory Structure

• proto/: Protocol buffer definitions for the sonar
• scripts/: Python scripts for interacting with the sonar

TODO

• Add launch files

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Original Python API Example (Legacy)

Sonar-3D-15-api-example

API example for reading and decoding the data from the Water Linked Sonar 3D-15 with Python

Setup

In your python environment you need to install the requirements.txt

pip install -r requirements.txt

!!! Note It is important to use the 4.24.2 protobuf version in the requirements file. If you already have protbuf installed you need to downgrade or look at alternative 2.

Using

Collect the data from a sonar, press ctrl-c to stop collecting data:

python save_sonar_data.py --file myfile.sonar

Inspecting the collected data:

python inspect_sonar_data.py --file myfile.sonar

Optionally you can add the a --save argument to save the data to file:

• RangeImage to 3d voxels in the .xzy format (supported by for example MeshLab) in the Sonars frame of reference
• BitmapImage to grayscale image in the .pgm format (supported by Photoshop, GIMP etc)

The save function is provided as an example of how to process the data from the Sonar, please modify as you see fit.

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Interface the sonar through the API (v1.4.0 or newer):

python interface_sonar_api.py --ip <SONAR IP>

Prints information about the Sonar (version, temperature...). Optionally you can control the soar with the arguments:

• --speed: Change the speed of sound used by the sonar (takes ~20s to complete)
• --acoustics: Enable or disable the acoustics on the sonar (choices [enable, disable])

Advanced

If you are already using another version of protobuf this is no problem, as you can take the 'sonar-3d-15-protocol.proto' file and generate a new 'sonar_3d_15_protocol_pb2.py with the correct version. For this you need to install the protobuf compiler to match your protobuf pip installed version (runner). Please see this doc: https://protobuf.dev/support/cross-version-runtime-guarantee/

Example of compiling a python file from the proto file

protoc --python_out=. sonar-3d-15-protocol.proto