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.