isaac_ros_argus_camera

Source code on GitHub.

Quickstart

1. Set up your development environment by following the instructions here.

2. Clone isaac_ros_common and this repository under ${ISAAC_ROS_WS}/src.

   cd ${ISAAC_ROS_WS}/src
   

   git clone -b release-3.1 https://github.com/NVIDIA-ISAAC-ROS/isaac_ros_common.git isaac_ros_common
   

git clone -b release-3.1 https://github.com/NVIDIA-ISAAC-ROS/isaac_ros_argus_camera.git isaac_ros_argus_camera

3. Launch the Docker container using the run_dev.sh script:

   cd ${ISAAC_ROS_WS}/src/isaac_ros_common && \
     ./scripts/run_dev.sh
   

4. Install this package’s dependencies.

   sudo apt-get install -y ros-humble-isaac-ros-argus-camera
   

5. Run the following launch files to spin up a demo of this package:

   ros2 launch isaac_ros_argus_camera isaac_ros_argus_camera_mono.launch.py
   

6. Use image_saver to save the output images:

   ros2 run image_view image_saver --ros-args -r image:=/left/image_raw -p filename_format:="left_image.jpg"
   

Troubleshooting

Argus fails to create capture session

Symptoms

The Isaac ROS Argus node can fail to create a capture session inside the container after the nvargus daemon has crashed. By default, the nvargus daemon is running in background, but it may crash due to other Argus clients. This will prevent Argus camera nodes from creating capture sessions. You may see messages with errors similar to Failed to create capture session.

Solution

Exit the Docker container and restart the nvargus daemon by running sudo systemctl restart nvargus-daemon.service

API

Launch monocular camera

ros2 launch isaac_ros_argus_camera isaac_ros_argus_camera_mono.launch.py

Launch stereo camera

ros2 launch isaac_ros_argus_camera isaac_ros_argus_camera_stereo.launch.py

ROS Parameters

ROS Parameter	Type	Default	Description
camera_id	uint	0	The video device index E.g. /dev/video0
module_id	uint	0	The camera module index in the device tree when there is more than one of the same camera module connected
mode	uint	0	The resolution mode supported by the camera sensor and driver.
camera_type	uint	1	0 for Monocular type camera; 1 for Stereo type camera
fsync_type	uint	1	Specifies what kind of Frame Synchronization to use, supported values are 0 for internal and 1 for external. For e3653 boards (carter 2.3) choose 0, for p3762 boards (carter 2.4) choose 1
camera_info_url	string	N/A	Optional URL of a camera info .ini file for monocular camera to read intrinsic information
left_camera_info_url	string	N/A	Optional URL of a camera info .ini file for the left imager of a stereo camera to read intrinsic information
right_camera_info_url	string	N/A	Optional URL of a camera info .ini file for the right imager of a stereo camera to read intrinsic information
camera_link_frame_name	string	camera	The frame name associated with the origin of the camera body.
optical_frame_name	string	left_cam	The frame name associated with the imager inside camera body (for monocular camera).
left_optical_frame_name	string	left_cam	The frame name associated with the left imager inside camera body (for stereo camera).
right_optical_frame_name	string	right_cam	The frame name associated with the right imager inside camera body (for stereo camera).

Note

To run the stereo camera, two video devices should present for the left and right sensors, respectively (e.g. /dev/video0 and /dev/video1).

ROS Topics Published

ROS Topic	Interface	Description
left/image_raw	sensor_msgs/Image	The left image of a stereo pair.
right/image_raw	sensor_msgs/Image	The right image of a stereo pair.
left/camerainfo	sensor_msgs/CameraInfo	The left camera model.
right/camerainfo	sensor_msgs/CameraInfo	The right camera model.

Launch testing

Monocular camera

launch_test src/isaac_ros_argus_camera/isaac_ros_argus_camera/test/isaac_ros_argus_camera_mono_test.py

Stereo camera

launch_test src/isaac_ros_argus_camera/isaac_ros_argus_camera/test/isaac_ros_argus_camera_stereo_test.py

Output Color Space Format

The Isaac ROS Argus node supports the YUV444 and YUV420 colorspaces from libargus and converts it to the RGB888 colorspace as output.

CameraInfo Message

The Isaac ROS Argus node uses the Argus Ext API to retrieve calibration parameters from the camera through the Linux device driver and convert it into CameraInfo messages. Refer to this page for the data structure of the calibration parameters.

Note

Each camera module should have stored the calibration parameters in internal memory like EEPROM, and the device driver must support the Argus Ext API to extract those parameters. Contact your camera vendor to get the required drivers.

Note

If your camera does not support the Argus Ext API, you can also specify a URL to a camera info .ini file parsable by the ROS CameraInfoManager using the camera_info_url parameter on the Isaac ROS Argus node. This will allow you to provide parameters you may have calibrated using the ROS Camera Calibration package, for example.

Note

When the camera_info_url is provided, the loaded parameters override the CameraInfo from Argus Ext API.