PREEMPT_RT Kernel for Jetson#

We provide a PREEMPT_RT kernel for Jetpack 7.1. This kernel is recommended only for use with robot manipulators, as many manipulator manufacturers recommend a low-latency kernel for interfacing with their robots.

Install PREEMPT_RT kernel from apt server#

  1. Follow instructions from Developer guide to install PREEMPT_RT kernel on Jetson.

  2. Check if PREEMPT_RT kernel is active by running the below command which should return text that contains PREEMPT RT.

    uname -a

Configure Docker Arguments for Real-Time Scheduling#

If you are running Isaac ROS in Docker container mode, you must specify additional arguments to enable real-time scheduling support. These arguments are necessary for proper thread priority management for the robot control interface, enabling low-latency communication with manipulators.

Run the following command on the host to persist the Docker arguments:

sudo tee -a /etc/isaac-ros-cli/.isaac_ros_dev-dockerargs > /dev/null << 'EOF'
--cap-add=sys_nice
--ulimit rtprio=99
--ulimit memlock=-1
EOF