LIDAR

One necessary instrument on NaviGator is its LIDAR system. This system is able to generate a 3D PointCloud of the surrounding area.

Simulation

Because the instrument is necessary for the boat to move, the component also must be simulated in the Gazebo environment. This is done with the help of a few tools.

The Virtual RobotX competition, pioneered by the Open Source Robotics Foundation, launched with a set of tools for simulating boats on water. One of these tools uses another Gazebo plugin in order to create a simulated Velodyne LIDAR component. The VRX competition tools provide a helpful model and component architecture, while the plugin provides the functionality to generate the actual LIDAR beams.