Tools for using ROS over limited bandwidth datalinks

While this code is freely licensed (2-clause BSD), we do ask that you send us an email so we can see who is using this software.

Unlike earlier Catkinized software we have provided, this repository does not contain a Catkin workspace. As we expect that other teams will be well on their way to migrating to Catkin, the difficulties of managing multiple workspaces do not justify the convenience of distributing these packages in their own workspace. As such, you will need to clone this repository inside the src/ directory of an existing Catkin workspace.

Please note that this software is primarily written for ROS Hydro, since that is what we are using for active development. Since this software was initially developed on ROS Groovy, most parts are (and should remain) backwards-compatible. Due to the use of Catkin, this software is incompatible with ROS Fuerte and earlier.

This repository is structured around 4 core packages:

1. datalink_launch - Launch files for teleop links using both the nodes in this repository and other packages (namely a custom version of openni2.launch to support divorced TF trees). The launch files in this package provide examples for how to configure the various link components in this repository.

2. pointcloud_compression - Library of pointcloud compression systems used to compress pointclouds for transmission over low-bandwidth datalinks.

3. opportunistic_link - This package provides an automatically switched ROS transmit link that allows for a topic to be sent once over the link to multiple subscribers. To reduce data demands, the link stops data flow automatically when no subscribers are connected.

4. datalink_msgs - Message types for low-bandwidth datalinks, namely to support message aggregation and compression.

5. datalink_mux_demux - Packages provides nodes for message aggregation/multiplexing and message dis-aggregation/demultiplexing. This allows multiple message topics to be combined together and sent over a single ROS publisher->subscriber link.

opportunistic_link - Package is stable and used for our DRC team.

datalink_msgs - Package is currently stable with no additional message types planned.

pointcloud_compression - Package is currently stable. Additional compression systems will be added if necessary.

datalink_launch - All launch files should be considered stable. New launch files may be added to provide better examples or provided support for new sensors.

datalink_mux_demux - Package is experimental.

1. Full ROS Hydro installation - on Ubuntu systems: $ sudo apt-get install ros-hydro-desktop-full

First, clone this repository:

$ cd /your/catkin/workspace/src
$ git clone https://github.com/WPI-ARC/datalink_toolkit.git
$ rospack profile

To build all packages in this repository:

(in the surrounding Catkin workspace directory)
$ catkin_make

To build a particular package in the repository:

(in the surrounding Catkin workspace directory)
$ catkin_make --pkg <package name>

To use, you must source the workspace:

(in the surrounding Catkin workspace directory)
$ source devel/setup.bash

For usage information and instructions on running components of these packages together, see the repository Wiki.