Visualization Node for Autonomous Systems

Overview

The Visualization Node provides tools for visualizing autonomous vehicle states, trajectories, and maps. It integrates with ROS 2 and generates markers for visualization in RViz/Foxbox, enabling users to view and debug various aspects of autonomous driving systems.

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Included Modules

Characters

File: characters.hpp

• Contains a map of ASCII characters to 5x7 pixel representations.
• Used for rendering text on visualizations.

Color Palette

File: color_palette.hpp

• Defines a set of predefined colors based on the Tableau 10 palette.
• Includes utilities for HSV-to-RGB color conversion.

Map Image Visualization

File: map_image_visualization.hpp

• Provides tools to convert map tiles into occupancy grids.
• Fetches map images and integrates them into visualization workflows.

State Buffer

File: state_buffer.hpp

• Implements a time-based circular buffer for vehicle state data.
• Useful for creating time-history visualizations.

Visualization Primitives

File: visualization_primitives.hpp

• Provides utilities for creating basic visualization markers:
  • Rectangles, spheres, and lines.
  • Finish lines and text markers.
• Supports flexible offsets and scaling.

Visualizer

File: visualizer.hpp

• Implements the main node for visualization.
• Subscribes to various ROS 2 topics and publishes visualization markers for RViz.

Visualizer Conversions

File: visualizer_conversions.hpp

• Converts ROS 2 messages (e.g., trajectories, maps, goals) into marker arrays.
• Includes support for traffic participant sets, safety corridors, and more.

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