- Overview
This is a C++ ROS driver for NovAtel GPS / GNSS Receivers.
Features:
- Fast and robust
- Supports serial, TCP, and UDP connections
- Can play back PCAP capture logs to test behavior
- Supports a variety of common NovAtel logs
- Easy to add support for more log types
- Supports ASCII and binary-format NovAtel logs
- Can synchronize
GPGGA
,GPRMC
, andBESTPOS
logs together in order to produce gps_common/GPSFix messages - Compatible with OEM4, OEM6, and OEM7 receivers
- Can produce IMU data from receives with SPAN support
It has been tested primarily on NovAtel OEM628 receivers, but it has been used with various OEM4, OEM6, and OEM7 devices. Please let the maintainers know of your success or failure in using this with other devices so we can update this page appropriately.
- Usage
The driver should function on ROS Kinetic and Melodic, and binary packages are available for both of them. To install them, first install ROS, then just run:
sudo apt-get install ros-${ROSDISTRO}-novatel-gps-driver
If you'd like to build it from source using catkin_tools:
mkdir -p novatel/src
cd novatel
catkin init
catkin config --cmake-args -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo
cd src
git clone https://github.com/swri-robotics/novatel_gps_driver
rosdep install . --from-paths -i
catkin build
Then create a .launch
file and configure it as desired:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<launch>
<node name="novatel"
pkg="nodelet" type="nodelet"
args="standalone novatel_gps_driver/novatel_gps_nodelet">
<rosparam>
connection_type: serial
device: /dev/ttyUSB0
frame_id: /gps
</rosparam>
</node>
</launch>
gps_common/GPSFix
messages will always be published, but by default, other message
types are not. See the config parameters for a list of which other message types can be
enabled.
- Packages
-
ROS messages that represent NovAtel message logs. Each supported log should have its own message type. A list of official log types can be found at http://docs.novatel.com/OEM7/Content/Logs/Log_Reference.htm .
-
A C++ library with an accompanying ROS nodelet and node that can connect to a NovAtel device over a serial, TCP, or UDP connection and translate NovAtel logs into ROS messages.
-
Nodelets
-
- ROS Parameters
connection_type
: Type of physical connection to the device- One of
serial
,tcp
,udp
, orpcap
- Default:
serial
- One of
device
: Location of device connection.- For
serial
connections, the device node; e. g.,/dev/ttyUSB0
- For
tcp
orudp
connections, ahost:port
specification.- If the host is omitted, it will listen for connections on the specified port.
- If the port is omitted,
3001
will be used as the default for TCP connections and3002
as the default for UDP connections.
- For
pcap
connections, the location of a.pcap
capture file. Note that the node will exit automatically after finishing playback. - Default: Empty
- For
frame_id
: ROS TF frame to place in the header of published messages.- Default: Empty
gpgga_gprmc_sync_tol
: Tolerance (in seconds) for synchronizing GPGGA and GPRMC logs.- Default:
0.01
- Default:
gpgga_position_sync_tol
: Tolerance (in seconds) for synchronizing GPGGA and BESTPOS logs.- Default
0.01
- Default
imu_frame_id
: TF frame id to use in IMU messages.- Default: Empty
imu_rate
: Desired rate in Hz for IMU messages.- This is set as the rate for
CORRIMUDATA
logs. - Default:
100
- This is set as the rate for
polling_period
: Desired period between GPS messages.- This will be set as the period for
GPGGA
,GPRMC
,GPGSA
,BESTPOS
, andBESTVEL
logs. - Default:
0.05
(20 Hz)
- This will be set as the period for
publish_clocksteering
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/ClockSteering messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_diagnostics
:true
to publish node diagnostics.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_gpgsa
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/Gpgsa messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_gpgsv
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/Gpgsv messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_gphdt
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/Gphdt messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_imu_messages
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelCorrectedImuData, novatel_gps_msgs/Inspva, novatel_gps_msgs/Inspvax, novatel_gps_msgs/Insstdev, and sensor_msgs/Imu messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_nmea_messages
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/Gpgga and novatel_gps_msgs/Gprmc messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_novatel_positions
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelPosition messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_novatel_utm_positions
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelUtmPosition messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_novatel_xyz_positions
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelXYZ messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_novatel_heading2
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelHeading2 messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_novatel_dual_antenna_heading
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelDualAntennaHeading messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_novatel_velocity
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelVelocity messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_range_messages
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/Range messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_sync_diagnostic
: If true, publish a time Sync diagnostic.- Ignored if
publish_diagnostics
is false. - Default:
true
- Ignored if
publish_time_messages
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/Time messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
publish_trackstat
:true
to publish novatel_gps_msgs/Trackstat messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
reconnect_delay_s
: Second delay between reconnection attempts.- Default:
0.5
- Default:
serial_baud
: Select the serial baud rate to be used in a serial connection.- Default:
115200
- Default:
use_binary_messages
:true
to request binary NovAtel logs,false
to request ASCII.- Binary logs are much more efficient and effectively required for IMU data, but ASCII logs are easier to parse for a human.
- Default:
false
wait_for_position
:true
in order to wait for BESTPOS logs before publishing GPSFix messages.- Default:
false
- Default:
- ROS Topic Subscriptions
/gps_sync
(std_msgs/Time): (optional) Timestamped sync pulses from a DIO module. These are used to improve the accuracy of the time stamps of the messages published.
- ROS Topic Publications
/bestpos
(novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelPosition): BESTPOS logs/bestutm
(novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelUtmPosition): BESTUTM logs/bestvel
(novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelVelocity): BESTVEL logs/clocksteering
(novatel_gps_msgs/ClockSteering): CLOCKSTEERING logs/bestxyz
(novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelXYZ): BESTXYZ logs/heading2
(novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelHeadin2): HEADING2 logs/dual_antenna_heading
(novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelDualAntennaHeading): DUALANTENNAHEADING logs/corrimudata
(novatel_gps_msgs/NovatelCorrectedImuData): CORRIMUDATA logs/diagnostics
(diagnostic_msgs/DiagnosticArray): ROS diagnostics/gpgga
(novatel_gps_msgs/Gpgga): GPGGA logs/gpgsa
(novatel_gps_msgs/Gpgsa): GPGSA logs/gpgsv
(novatel_gps_msgs/Gpgsv): GPGSV logs/gprmc
(novatel_gps_msgs/Gprmc): GPRMC logs/gps
(gps_common/GPSFix): Fixes produced by combining GPGGA, GPRMC, and BESTPOS messages together- Note: GPSFix messages will always be published regardless of what other types are enabled.
/fix
(sensor_msgs/NavSatFix): GPSFix messages converted to NavSatFix messages/imu
(sensor_msgs/Imu): CORRIMUDATA logs converted to Imu messages/inspva
(novatel_gps_msgs/Inspva): INSPVA logs/inspvax
(novatel_gps_msgs/Inspvax): INSPVAX logs/insstdev
(novatel_gps_msgs/Insstdev): INSSTDEV logs/range
(novatel_gps_msgs/Range): RANGE logs/rosout
(rosgraph_msgs/Log): Console output/time
(novatel_gps_msgs/Time): TIME logs/trackstat
(novatel_gps_msgs/Trackstat): TRACKSTAT logs
- ROS Parameters
-
Adding New Logs
Do you need support for a new log type? Follow these steps:
- Find the log reference in the official documentation.
- Add a new .msg file to the
novatel_gps_msgs
package. - Add a new class in the
novatel_gps_driver
package that extends thenovatel_gps_driver::MessageParser
class that can parse the log and return the appropriate ROS message. - Modify the
novatel_gps_driver::NovatelGps
class:- Add an instance of your parser, a buffer for storing parsed messages, and a method for retrieving them.
- Modify the
NovatelGps::ParseBinaryMessage
,NovatelGps::ParseNovatelSentence
, orNovatelGps::ParseNmeaSentence
methods to use your parser to parse the new message type and store it in the appropriate buffer.
- Modify the
novatel_gps_driver::NovatelGpsNodelet
class:- Add a configuration parameter to enable the new message type.
- Add a publisher for publishing it.
- Modify
NovatelGpsNodelet::CheckDeviceForData
to retrieve messages from the appropriate buffer and publish them.
- Add a new unit test to
novatel_gps_driver/tests/parser_tests.cpp
to test your parser.