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Creating vehicle and sensor models#

Overview#

Sensor Model#

  • Purpose: The sensor model includes the calibration (transformation) and launch files of the sensors used in the autonomous vehicle. This includes various sensors like LiDARs, cameras, radars, IMUs (Inertial Measurement Units), GPS units, etc.
  • Importance: Accurate sensor modeling is essential for perception tasks. Precise calibration values help understand the environment by processing sensor data, such as detecting objects, estimating distances, and creating a 3D representation of the surroundings.
  • Usage: The sensor model is utilized in Autoware for launching sensors, configuring their pipeline, and describing calibration values.
  • The sensor model (sensor kit) consists of the following two packages:
    • <YOUR_VEHICLE_NAME>_sensor_kit_description
    • <YOUR_VEHICLE_NAME>_sensor_kit_launch
  • The sensor kit uses shared launch files from two packages of the autoware_launch repository:
    • autoware_sensor_driver_launch: the launch files of the LiDAR drivers, one file for each LiDAR model
    • autoware_sensing_launch: the launch files of the pointcloud preprocessing, the concatenation, and other processing units

Please refer to the creating sensor model page for creating your individual sensor model.

For reference, here is the folder structure for the sample_sensor_kit_launch folder in the autoware_launch repository:

sample_sensor_kit_launch/
├─ sample_sensor_kit_description/
└─ sample_sensor_kit_launch/

Vehicle Model#

  • Purpose: The vehicle model includes individual vehicle specifications with dimensions, a 3D model of the vehicle (in .fbx or .dae format), etc.
  • Importance: An accurate vehicle model is crucial for motion planning and control.
  • Usage: The vehicle model is employed in Autoware to provide vehicle information for Autoware, including the 3D model of the vehicle.
  • The vehicle model comprises the following two packages:
    • <YOUR_VEHICLE_NAME>_vehicle_description
    • <YOUR_VEHICLE_NAME>_vehicle_launch

Please consult the creating vehicle model page for creating your individual vehicle model.

As a reference, here is the folder structure for the sample_vehicle_launch folder in the autoware_launch repository:

sample_vehicle_launch/
├─ sample_vehicle_description/
└─ sample_vehicle_launch/