patriciogonzalezvivo / openlidar

DIY 3D LiDAR Scanner

OpenLiDAR

This project goal is to support a wide variety of sensors and controlers (throught the Mary Library) so people can construct their own 3D LiDAR Scanner with off-the-shelf devices.

The general set up consist of an affordable LiDAR sensor mounted on a structure that pan it around with presicion and accuracy (we call that mount). There are other sensors that will help your scanner to have more or better data like GPS and/or Magnetometer

Supported LiDAR Sensors:

Manufacture	Device	Mary Driver	Range	Outdoors	Angle Resolution
SLAMTECH	RPLidar A1	lidar/RPLidar.h	12m	no	non applicalbe
SLAMTECH	RPLidar A2	lidar/RPLidar.h	18m	no	0.45° ~ 1.35°
SLAMTECH	RPLidar A3	lidar/RPLidar.h	25m / 16m (in/outdoors)	yes	0.3375° / 0.54°
SLAMTECH	RPLidar S1	lidar/RPLidar.h	40m	yes	0.391°

Supported Mounts:

Manufacture	Device	Mary Driver
Celestron	NexStar STL Series	mount/Celestron.h
Celestron	NexStar STL Series	mount/Celestron.h
TBD	TBD	TBD

Supported GPS:

Manufacture	Device
*	All deviced supported by Gpsd

Supported Magnetometers:

Manufacture	Device
OzzMaker	BerryIMU
OzzMaker	BerryGPS-IMU

Hardware Setups

Celestron/RPLidarA1 (March 2020)

Because hardware is not really one of my strengths I decide to reuse existing hardware as much as possible. Avoiding 3D printing moving peaces like gears was very important because they tend to introduce error. For that I based my desing on using a motorize telescope mount which robust design have been tested extensivelly while provides maximum presicion and control. As an extra if it's properly calibrated (using their own system based on stars possition) can waranty excelent alignments of your point clouds.

• RPLiDAR A1 I decide to go with the cheaper to see what the floor was how I can build it up from their
• Celestron NexStar GoTo Mount to spin the RPLiDAR around in 360 degrees with precision (~200 U$D).
• Celestron compatible dovetail mount. Non-permanent solution to attach the LiDAR sensor to the Celestron mount. (~12 U$D)
• Design and 3D Print the model models/celestron_mount/rplidar_A1.stl. This mount attach to the celestron mount through the dovetail rail, and to the RPLidar A1 and it's driver through screws.
• RaspberryPi to control both the sensor and the mount running OpenLiDAR. I modify my Celestron mount following this directions in order to derive power from it (35 U$D)

Software setup

Installation

Install dependencies:

sudo apt install cmake libpcl-dev libglm-dev gpsd gpsd-clients libgps-dev

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/patriciogonzalezvivo/OpenLiDAR.git

Compile and Install

cd OpenLiDAR
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

Give your user permission to access the USB ports:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

Apps

Ecosystem of apps to scann and process LiDAR data.

3dscan

Makes a 3D lidar scan. To run you need to the USB addresses of the Celestron mount (first argument) and the RPLiDAR sensor (second argument). In linux systems they are given by the order you plug them.

TODO: - ADD ARGUMENTS DESCRIPTIONS

./3dscan --mount /dev/ttyUSB0 --lidar /dev/ttyUSB1 --speed 0.9 --degrees 270 --voxel 0.5 --normals --filename point_cloud --formats ply,pcd,png

ROADMAP

OpenLiDAR lib/:

• Multi thread method with callback (specially for creating UI interfaces)
• Add support for Magnetometers
• 360 panoramic reconstruction using camera input
  • Add support for different cameras
  • RGB and Depth callibration

Console based app/3dscan:

• Choose different output types: PLY, PCD
• Add PNG format as a range equirectangular projection image
• Add LAS format (add geo-location from GPS data)
• Figure how to geo-locate PLYs, PCDs and PNGs using GPS data
• Add optional outliers removal

Daemon app/3dscanner:

• HTTP server <=> client

openlidar's Issues

how long does it take to scan such a room

on your project description you are showing an animated gif of a 3D pointcloud of a room. can you please say something about the speed and time to scan this room?

Other questions:

• how many 3D points are recorded by second?
• what is the step size and how fine can you setup the mount step in degrees?
• how long does it take for 360 deg horizontal and full vertical (what is the full vertical degree range)?
• can you also give the 3D points a color value (or combine it with 360 degree image)?
• how precise is the lidar laser distance?
• could you also develop a simple mount (3d printed) with a stepper motor with fine tuning the z-axes steps so you don't need to buy such a large telescope mount?