Arena Camera deriver for ROS2 - forked and updated by Mark Umansky

• OS : Linux (x64/amd64/arm64) (==22.04)
• ROS2 : Humble Hawksbill
• ArenaSDK and arena_api : https://thinklucid.com/downloads-hub/

• clone repo or download release

  git clone https://github.com/lucidvisionlabs/arena_camera_ros2.git

• install ArenaSDK and arena_api

  • https://thinklucid.com/downloads-hub/

• build workspace and its dependencies

  source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash

  cd arena_camera_ros2/ros2_ws

  colcon build --symlink-install # build workspace for dev

• install the build

  . install/setup.bash

• explore nodes

  • arena_camera_node

    • this is the main node. It represent one LUCID Camera.

    • it has two executable start and trigger_image

    • ros arguments

      • serial

        • a string representing the serial of the device to create.
        • if not provided the node, it will represent the first dicovered camera.

      • topic

        • the topic the camera publish images on.
        • default value is /arena_camera_node/images.
        • if passed as a ros argument, it should be preceded with "/"

      • width

        • the width of desired image
        • default value is the one in default user profile.

      • height

        • the height of desired image
        • default value is the one in default user profile.

      • pixelformat

        • the pixel format of the deisred image
        • supported pixelformats are "rgb8", "rgba8", "rgb16", "rgba16", "bgr8", "bgra8", "bgr16", "bgra16", "mono8", "mono16", "bayer_rggb8", "bayer_bggr8", "bayer_gbrg8", "bayer_grbg8", "bayer_rggb16", "bayer_bggr16", "bayer_gbrg16", "bayer_grbg16", "yuv422", "polarized_angles_0d_45d_90d_135d_bayer_rg8"
        • the "polarized_angles_0d_45d_90d_135d_bayer_rg8" format is for polarization cameras like PHX050S1-QC

      • gain

        • a double value represents the gain of the image.

      • exposure_time

        • the time elapsed before the camera sensor creates the image.
        • units is micro seconds.
        • big values might makes the image take too long before it is view/published.
        • if trigger_mode is passed to node them it is recommended to set exposure_time as well so the triggered images do not take longer than expected.

      • trigger_mode

        • puts the device in ready state where it will wait for a trigger_image client to request an image.

        • default value is false. It means the device will be publishing images to the default topic /arena_camera_node/images.

        • values are true and false.

        • when false, images can be viewed

          ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p qos_reliability:=reliable -p topic:=image

          ros2 run image_tools showimage

        • when true, image would not be published unless requested/triggered

          ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p qos_reliability:=reliable -p topic:=image -p exposure_time:=<proper value> -p trigger_mode:=true

          ros2 run image_tools showimage # no image will be displayed yet

          ros2 run arena_camera_node trigger_image

    • QoS related parameters

      • if using these images with some subscriber make sure:

        • both arena_camera_node and the subscriber on the same topic.

        • both have the same QoS settings else the images will be published but the subscriber would not see them because the image mags have a different QoS than the subscriber.

        • QoS parameter

        • qos_history

          • represents the history value of QoS for the image publisher.
          • default value is keep_last.
          • supported values are "system_default","keep_last", "keep_all", "unknown".
          • more about QoS: https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Concepts/About-Quality-of-Service-Settings/

        • qos_history_depth

          • represents the depth value of QoS for the image publisher.
          • default value is 5.
          • more about QoS: https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Concepts/About-Quality-of-Service-Settings/

        • qos_reliability

          • represents the reliability value of QoS for the image publisher.
          • default value is best_effort
          • supported values are "system_default", "reliable", "best_effort", "unknown".
          • more about QoS: https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Concepts/About-Quality-of-Service-Settings/

      simple example for using arguments together

      ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p serial:="904240001" -p topic:=/special_images -p width:=100 -p height:=200 -p pixelformat:=rgb8 -p gain:=10 -p exposure_time:=150 -p trigger_mode:=true

• explore excutables

  • ros2 pkg executables | grep arena

  • all excutables can be run by using

    ros2 run <pakg name> <executable name>

• explore actions

  • None

• explore services

  • trigger_image
    • trigger image form a device that is running in trigger_mode.
    • To run a device in trigger mode ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args -p exposure_time:=<proper value> -p trigger_mode=true
    • To trigger an image run ros2 run arena_camera_node trigger_image

The node uses standard ROS2 logging levels. By default, per-image publish messages are logged at DEBUG level to reduce console noise.

To enable verbose debug logging, set the log level when starting the node:

`ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args --log-level debug`

Or for even more detail:

`ros2 run arena_camera_node start --ros-args --log-level arena_camera_node:=debug`

Available log levels (from most to least verbose): DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL

• support windows
• add -h flag to nodes
• showimage node to view 2D and 3D images
• launch file
• camera_info
• access to nodemaps
• settings dump/read to/from file
• support two devices