How to add PointXYZI type support for autoware_pointcloud_preprocessor

[felixf4xu]

Hi,

I'd like to check how to add PointXYZI type support for autoware_pointcloud_preprocessor.

I'm using RoboSense rs-ruby-80 lidar, which supports XYZI and XYZIRT formats as documented at https://github.com/RoboSense-LiDAR/rslidar_sdk?tab=readme-ov-file#12-point-type-supported

XYZI - x, y, z, intensity
XYZIRT - x, y, z, intensity, ring, timestamp

But in autoware_pointcloud_preprocessor, only PointXYZIRC and PointXYZIRADRT are supported, even PointXYZI is treated as error:

    if (utils::is_data_layout_compatible_with_point_xyzi(*cloud)) {
      RCLCPP_ERROR(
        get_logger(),
        "The pointcloud layout is compatible with PointXYZI. You may be using legacy "
        "code/data");
    }

So I'd like to check how to convert XYZIRT to XYZIRC

"C" (channel) in XYZIRC is like robosence "R" (ring), so it's available.
then "R" in XYZIRC is return type, which is configured as "Strong" (on robosense lidar's web config page), so it is "SINGLE_STRONGEST"?

In that case, where is the best place to convert the data type?

[amadeuszsz]

Hi @felixf4xu,
This format is because some components process raw data with a specific field format in mind.

As you might noticed, our sensor driver does not support your sensor yet. For now, to overcome issues with incompatible fields format, Autoware users usually write ROS node which converts sensor's data into compatible format.

sensor driver --> data conversion node --> Autoware

However, if it will cause high latency in your sensing pipeline, you might need to consider changes in sensor's driver directly.