pulson_ros

A ROS wrapper for the PulsON P440 and P410 ultra-wideband radios from Time Domain.

Node: publishes range information to ROS framework

Beacon: will be asked for range information by the node (can be not connected to the system)

IMPORTANT: Remember to update the path at line 164 of 'src/P4xx/RangeNET/TDMA/rcmIf.c' to the corresponding serial port (usually '/dev/ttyACM0')

Steps to work with a beacon and a node (receiver):

1. Build a slotmap in the 'config' folder (use motion_tests.yaml as a reference).

2. Plug in both the beacon and the node and run

roslaunch receiver_beacon_reset.launch receiver_number:=<receiver_no> receiver_path:=/path/to/receiver beacon_number:=<beacon_no> beacon_path:=/path/to/beacon

with the proper ID numbers (shown in the module labels) and port numbers to reset the devices.

3. Run

roslaunch receiver_beacon_beacon.launch beacon_number:=<beacon_no> beacon_path:=/path/to/beacon slot_map_file_name:=<slotmap name>

to setup the beacon.

4. After you configure the beacon it is safe to unplug it.

5. Run

roslaunch receiver_beacon_launch.launch receiver_number:=<receiver_no> receiver_path:=/path/to/receiver slot_map_file_name:=<slotmap name> robot:=<name>

to start the communication.

6. Leave the node running and look at range information from the corresponding topic <robot>/ranges/ranges.

Note: A similar procedure is followed for launching one node talking to two beacons. You need to have a single slotmap file (see motivation_dynamics.yaml as an example). Remember that the two communications should be on a different slot.

Interfacing with MATLAB 2016b:

1. You will need support for custom messages. In a MATLAB window, run roboticsAddons.
2. Select the add-on "Robotics System Toolbox Interface for ROS Custom Messages".
3. Click "Install", select "Install" and wait for the installation to complete.
4. Now you need to generate the custom message. Create a folder somewhere (e.g in the Documents).
5. Copy the whole package (with the name pulson_ros) in the created folder.
6. In MATLAB, type userFolder = '/path/to/folder/you/created/' (NOT the package itself).
7. Run rosgenmsg(userFolder) to create the custom messages.
8. Follow the MATLAB instructions: a) Edit javaclasspath.txt by adding the line /path/to/folder/you/created/matlab_gen/jar/pulson_ros-0.0.0.jar, b) Execute addpath('/path/to/folder/you/created/matlab_gen/msggen'), c) Run savepath.
9. Restart MATLAB and check that everything works by running rosmsg list.