Perception Launch Files#

Overview#

The Autoware perception stacks start launching at autoware_launch.xml as we mentioned at Launch Autoware page. The autoware_launch package includes tier4_perception_component.launch.xml for starting perception launch files invocation from autoware_launch.xml. This diagram describes some of the Autoware perception launch files flow at autoware_launch and autoware.universe packages.

perception-launch-flow — Autoware perception launch flow diagram

Note

The Autoware project is a large project. Therefore, as we manage the Autoware project, we utilize specific arguments in the launch files. ROS 2 offers an argument-overriding feature for these launch files. Please refer to the official ROS 2 launch documentation for further information. For instance, if we define an argument at the top-level launch, it will override the value on lower-level launches.

tier4_perception_component.launch.xml#

The tier4_perception_component.launch.xml launch file is the main perception component launch at the autoware_launch package. This launch file calls perception.launch.xml at tier4_perception_launch package from autoware.universe repository. We can modify perception launch arguments at tier4_perception_component.launch.xml. Also, we can add any other necessary arguments that we want to change it since tier4_perception_component.launch.xml is the top-level launch file of other perception launch files. Here are some predefined perception launch arguments:

occupancy_grid_map_method: This argument determines the occupancy grid map method for perception stack. Please check probabilistic_occupancy_grid_map package for detailed information. The default probabilistic occupancy grid map method is pointcloud_based_occupancy_grid_map. If you want to change it to the laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map, you can change it here:

- <arg name="occupancy_grid_map_method" default="pointcloud_based_occupancy_grid_map" description="options: pointcloud_based_occupancy_grid_map, laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map"/>
+ <arg name="occupancy_grid_map_method" default="laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map" description="options: pointcloud_based_occupancy_grid_map, laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map"/>

detected_objects_filter_method: This argument determines the filter method for detected objects. Please check detected_object_validation package for detailed information about lanelet and position filter. The default detected object filter method is lanelet_filter. If you want to change it to the position_filter, you can change it here:
```
- <arg name="detected_objects_filter_method" default="lanelet_filter" description="options: lanelet_filter, position_filter"/>
+ <arg name="detected_objects_filter_method" default="position_filter" description="options: lanelet_filter, position_filter"/>
```

detected_objects_validation_method: This argument determines the validation method for detected objects. Please check detected_object_validation package for detailed information about validation methods. The default detected object filter method is obstacle_pointcloud. If you want to change it to the occupancy_grid, you can change it here, but remember it requires laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map method as occupancy_grid_map_method:

- <arg name="occupancy_grid_map_method" default="pointcloud_based_occupancy_grid_map" description="options: pointcloud_based_occupancy_grid_map, laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map"/>
+ <arg name="occupancy_grid_map_method" default="laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map" description="options: pointcloud_based_occupancy_grid_map, laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map"/>
  <arg
  name="detected_objects_validation_method"
- default="obstacle_pointcloud"
+ default="occupancy_grid"
  description="options: obstacle_pointcloud, occupancy_grid (occupancy_grid_map_method must be laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map)"
  />

Note

You can also use this arguments as command line arguments:

ros2 launch autoware_launch autoware.launch.xml ... detected_objects_filter_method:=lanelet_filter occupancy_grid_map_method:=laserscan_based_occupancy_grid_map ...

The predefined tier4_perception_component.launch.xml arguments explained above, but there is the lot of perception arguments included in perception.launch.xml launch file at tier4_perception_launch. Since we didn't fork autoware.universe repository, we can add the necessary launch argument to tier4_perception_component.launch.xml file. Please follow the guidelines for some examples.

perception.launch.xml#

The perception.launch.xml launch file is the main perception launch at the autoware.universe. This launch file calls necessary perception launch files as we mentioned Autoware perception launch flow diagram above. The top-level launch file of perception.launch.xml is tier4_perception_component.launch.xml, so if we want to change anything on perception.launch.xml, we will apply these changes tier4_perception_component.launch.xml instead of perception.launch.xml.

Here are some example changes for the perception pipeline:

remove_unknown: This parameter determines the remove unknown objects at camera-lidar fusion. Please check roi_cluster_fusion node for detailed information. The default value is true. If you want to change it to the false, you can add this argument to tier4_perception_component.launch.xml, so it will override the perception.launch.xml's argument:
```
+ <arg name="remove_unknown" default="false"/>
```

camera topics: If you are using camera-lidar fusion or camera-lidar-radar fusion as a perception_mode, you can add your camera and info topics on tier4_perception_component.launch.xml as well, it will override the perception.launch.xml launch file arguments:

+ <arg name="image_raw0" default="/sensing/camera/camera0/image_rect_color" description="image raw topic name"/>
+ <arg name="camera_info0" default="/sensing/camera/camera0/camera_info" description="camera info topic name"/>
+ <arg name="detection_rois0" default="/perception/object_recognition/detection/rois0" description="detection rois output topic name"/>
...

You can add every necessary argument to tier4_perception_component.launch.xml launch file like these examples.