Client-Server Based Implementation of Real-time LiDAR Data Streaming on ROS platform

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor play a vital role in the fields like environment perception for an autonomous vehicle, surveying and many other fields. LiDAR emits an enormous amount of data, which is difficult to transmit over a wireless medium. The need for LiDAR data transmission arises specifically in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and surveying. It is advantageous to transmit LiDAR (mounted on a car) data over a wireless medium and receive the same by another vehicle or Road Side Units (RSUs) or control stations of a tesbed setup. Similarly, visualizing LiDAR data remotely while data acquisition by LiDAR mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) could simplify the process of surveying. This paper presents a client-server-based LiDAR data streaming system using socket programming. In this system, the server transmits LiDAR point-cloud percept data, and the client captures and visualizes the streaming data over a WiFi medium. The server and the client are both equipped with the Robot Operating System(ROS). An extensive analysis of data transfer on two popular protocols, TCP and UDP, has also been presented. The data transmission and reception on ROS platform was successfully performed with a tolerable latency.