sick_scan

Table of contents

This stack provides a ROS driver for the SICK series of laser scanners mentioned in the following list. The SICK MRS6124 is a multi-layer, multi-echo 3D laser scanner that is geared towards rough outdoor environments.

Supported Hardware

This driver should work with all of the following products. However, this driver is brand new (Feb 2018) The migration with the master-branch of the already published sick_scan-driver (see github.com/SICKAG/sick_scan ) is in preparation and will be finished until end of March 2018. Since 22nd of February 2018 the new driver is a devel-branch of the already published driver.

ROS Device Driver for Sick Laserscanner - supported scanner types:

device name part no. description tested?
MRS6124 6065086 24 layer (standard) ✔ [experimental]
MRS1104 1081208 4 layer ✔ [experimental]
LMS1104 [unpublished] 1 layer (based on MRS1104 technology) ✔ [experimental]
TiM551 1060445 1 layer max. range: 10m, ang. resol. 1.00[deg] ✔ [experimental]
    ang. resolution: 1.00[deg] Scan-Rate: 15 Hz  
TiM561 1071419 1 layer max. range: 10m, ang. resol. 0.33 [deg] ✔ [experimental]
    ang. resolution: 0.33[deg] Scan-Rate: 15 Hz  
TiM571 1079742 1 layer max. range: 25m, ang. resol. 0.33 [deg] ✔ [experimental]
    ang. resolution: 0.33[deg] Scan-Rate: 15 Hz  

Start Node

Use the following command to start ROS node:

For MRS6124: roslaunch sick_scan sick_mrs_6xxx.launch

For MRS1104: roslaunch sick_scan sick_mrs_1xxx.launch

For LMS1104: roslaunch sick_scan sick_lms_1xxx.launch

For TiM551, TiM561, TiM571: roslaunch sick_scan sick_tim_5xx.launch#

Start multiple Nodes

Take the launchfile “sick_tim_5xx_twin.launch” as an example. Rempping the scan and cloud topics is essential to distinguish the scanndata and provide TF information.

Sopas mode

This driver supports both COLA-B (binary) and COLA-A (ASCII) communication with the laser scanner. Binary mode is activated by default. Since this mode generates less network traffic. If the communication mode set in the scanner memory is different from that used by the driver, the scanner’s communication mode is changed. This requires a restart of the TCP-IP connection, which can extend the start time by up to 30 seconds. There are two ways to prevent this:

  1. [Recommended] Set the communication mode with the SOPAS ET software to binary and save this setting in the scanner’s EEPROM.
  2. Use the parameter “use_binary_protocol” to overwrite the default settings of the driver.
  3. Setting “use_binary_protocol” to “False” activates COLA-A and disables COLA-B (default)

Bugs and feature requests

Troubleshooting

  1. Check Scanner IP in the launch file.
  2. Check Ethernet connection to scanner with a ping.
  3. View node startup output wether the IP connection could be established
  4. Check the scanner status using the LEDs on the device. The LED codes are described in the above mentioned operation manuals.
  5. Further testing and troubleshooting informations can found in the file test/readme_testplan.txt
  6. If you stop the scanner in your debugging IDE or by other hard interruption (like Ctrl-C), you must wait until 60 sec. before the scanner is up and running again. During this time the MRS6124 reconnects twice. If you do not wait this waiting time you could see one of the following messages:
    • TCP connection error
    • Error-Message 0x0d
  7. Amplitude values in rviz: If you see only one color in rviz try the following: Set the min/max-Range of intensity display in the range [0…200] and switch on the intensity flag in the lauch file
  8. In case of network problems check your own ip address and the ip address of your laser scanner (by using SOPAS ET).
    • List of own IP-addresses: ifconfig grep “inet addr”
    • Try to ping scanner ip address (used in launch file)
  9. If the driver stops during init phase please stop the driver with ctrl-c and restart (could be caused due to protocol ASCII/Binary cola-dialect).

SUPPORT

Installation

In the following instructions, replace <rosdistro> with the name of your ROS distro (e.g., indigo).

From binaries

The driver has not been released yet. But once that happens, you can install it directly by typing:

sudo apt-get install ros-<rosdistro>-sick_scan

From source

source /opt/ros/<rosdistro>/setup.bash
mkdir -p ~/ros_catkin_ws/src/
cd ~/ros_catkin_ws/src/
git clone -b devel --single-branch git://github.com/SICKAG/sick_scan.git
cd ..
catkin_make
source ~/ros_catkin_ws/install/setup.bash

Quick Start

roslaunch sick_scan sick_mrs6xxx.launch
rosrun rviz rviz
publish to point cloud

Testing

The sick_scan_test program was developed for testing the driver. This program checks elementary properties of the scanner. In a first implementation stage, the shots per scan are checked. The test program works according to the following principle:

  1. The parameters from an original launch file are read.
  2. These parameters are modified according to the instructions in the test control file.
  3. The modified parameters including all other parameter settings from the original launch file are copied to a test launch file.
  4. The test launch file is started.
  5. The parameters are checked.
  6. The result of the check is transferred to a result file. The basic procedure can be seen in the following figure: Alt text More information about the structure of the individual files in the test run can be found here:

Creators

Michael Lehning

on behalf of SICK AG

SICK Logo Lehning Logo