VIO Indoor Navigation

Maha Riyad

Hello @modaltb ,
We are trying to run MAVROS on voxl m500, but we're facing issues with the VIO. The VIO is enabled in the voxl-vision-px4 configuration file. However, when checking the x and y values in the odometry mavlink telemetry packets they're found to be 0s.
The position mode is continuously rejected and it seems like the VIO data is not being transmitted. We did not change the flight core's PX4-EKF2 settings yet we tried to use the helper file here: https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/flight-core-px4/px4-parameters/-/blob/master/helpers/ekf2_indoor_vio.params

and we still did not manage to get it to work. Could you please help?

modaltb

Hi @Maha-Riyad ,

One way to debug is using voxl-vision-px4 via command line, with the 0.6.8 production release, there's a -o option that prints out odometry data straight out of voxl-vision-px4 which is useful.

https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/modal-pipe-architecture/voxl-vision-px4/-/blob/7b9f76c468045a023b35747deeef52e4f524b7de/src/main.c#L99

If you run voxl-vision-px4 -o from command line, how are things looking there?

modaltb

I forgot, James has a great video here too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j7CjmDvluM&feature=emb_logo

Lynn Koudsi

Hi @modaltb,

I'm getting the exact same problem with the same parameter settings. I tried running voxl-vision-px4 -o and I was seeing no messages when attempting to switch to position control. I'm also not seeing any Odometry section in MAVLink Inspector.

I'm seeing no errors when running voxl-vision-px4 as a service or in command line.

modaltb

Hi @Lynn-Koudsi ,

Hmmm, this one is confusing me a bit, if you're available maybe we could setup a screen share on Monday to troubleshoot? I'm be available 8:15-10:00, 12-2 and 4-5 PST, or Tuesday anytime after 8:15 AM PST.

Thanks!!

Lynn Koudsi

@modaltb 12-2 works!

Also just for more context, I had done a clean image installation at V3.1.0 and had removed my data folder. I'm thinking the issue is that calibration files are not there. I tried running voxl-cam-ros but it's not finding left and right yaml files. I tried just pushing the sample calibration files from https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/utilities/voxl-camera-calibration but it won't find ost.yaml.
So I guess my question is, is there a default data folder available online? Or can you provide the default factory data folder?

Thanks!

modaltb

Just sent out an invite for tomorrow, if I can get the SN of the m500 I can get you the calibration files we have in our production database in advance and that might get things going!

Lynn Koudsi

@modaltb Thank you!

Serial# is M20000000TJ

Liping

Hi @modaltb

I'm getting the same problem as described by Lynn. I had also done a clean image installation at V3.1.0 and had removed my data folder.

yocto:~# voxl-vision-px4 -o
loading our own config file
=================================================================
Parameters as loaded from config file:
qgc_ip:                     192.168.43.84
en_localhost_mavlink_udp    1
en_secondary_qgc:           0
secondary_qgc_ip:           192.168.1.214
qgc_udp_port_number:        14550
localhost_udp_port_number:  14551
en_vio:                     1
en_voa:                     0
en_send_vio_to_qgc:         0
en_send_voa_to_qgc:         0
en_adsb:                    1
adsb_uart_bus:              7
adsb_uart_baudrate:         57600
px4_uart_bus:               5
px4_uart_baudrate:          921600
offboard_mode:              off
follow_tag_id:              0
en_apriltag_fixed_frame:    0
fixed_frame_filter_len:     5
en_transform_mavlink_pos_setpoints_from_fixed_frame:0
=================================================================
loading extrinsics and apriltag external config files
#0:
    tag id:          0
    name:            default_name
    location:        fixed
    size_m:            0.400
    T_tag_wrt_fixed: 0.0  0.0  0.0 
    R_tag_to_fixed:  0.0 -1.0  0.0 
                     1.0  0.0  0.0 
                     0.0  0.0  1.0 
#1:
    tag id:          1
    name:            default_name
    location:        fixed
    size_m:            0.400
    T_tag_wrt_fixed: 0.0  0.0  0.0 
    R_tag_to_fixed:  0.0 -1.0  0.0 
                     1.0  0.0  0.0 
                     0.0  0.0  1.0 
loaded in 2 fixed apriltags
#0:
    parent:                imu1
    child:                 imu0
    T_child_wrt_parent:   -0.048   0.037   0.002 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0     0.0     0.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     1.000  -0.000   0.000 
                           0.000   1.000  -0.000 
                           0.000   0.000   1.000 
#1:
    parent:                imu0
    child:                 tracking
    T_child_wrt_parent:    0.065  -0.014   0.013 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0    45.0    90.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     0.000  -0.707   0.707 
                           1.000   0.000  -0.000 
                          -0.000   0.707   0.707 
#2:
    parent:                imu1
    child:                 tracking
    T_child_wrt_parent:    0.017   0.015   0.013 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0    45.0    90.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     0.000  -0.707   0.707 
                           1.000   0.000  -0.000 
                          -0.000   0.707   0.707 
#3:
    parent:                body
    child:                 imu0
    T_child_wrt_parent:    0.020   0.014  -0.008 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0     0.0     0.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     1.000  -0.000   0.000 
                           0.000   1.000  -0.000 
                           0.000   0.000   1.000 
#4:
    parent:                body
    child:                 imu1
    T_child_wrt_parent:    0.068  -0.015  -0.008 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0     0.0     0.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     1.000  -0.000   0.000 
                           0.000   1.000  -0.000 
                           0.000   0.000   1.000 
#5:
    parent:                body
    child:                 stereo_l
    T_child_wrt_parent:    0.100  -0.040   0.000 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0    90.0    90.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     0.000  -0.000   1.000 
                           1.000   0.000  -0.000 
                          -0.000   1.000   0.000 
#6:
    parent:                body
    child:                 tof
    T_child_wrt_parent:    0.100   0.000   0.000 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0    90.0    90.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     0.000  -0.000   1.000 
                           1.000   0.000  -0.000 
                          -0.000   1.000   0.000 
#7:
    parent:                body
    child:                 ground
    T_child_wrt_parent:    0.000   0.000   0.100 
    RPY_parent_to_child:   0.0     0.0     0.0  
    R_child_to_parent:     1.000  -0.000   0.000 
                           0.000   1.000  -0.000 
                           0.000   0.000   1.000 
exising instance of voxl-vision-px4 found, attempting to stop it
starting geometry module
starting uart mavlink
Successfully opened mavparser
starting udp mavlink
Detected PX4 Mavlink SYSID 1
Adding manual QGC IP address to udp connection list: 192.168.43.84
Added new UDP connection to 192.168.43.84
starting px4 shell
starting fixed pose input
starting vio manager
starting apriltag manager
starting adsb manager
ADSB thread starting
Init complete, entering main loop
PX4 Connected over UART with sysid 1

But when I run 'voxl-test-vision-lib -o' I can see the VIO works.

...
[6619.210687] SNAV INFO: IMU sensor finished initializing.
[6619.211066] SNAV INFO: IMU sensor settings retrieved.
[6619.211122] SNAV INFO: Creating IMU thread.
[6619.211332] SNAV INFO: Creating VISLAM processing thread.
[6619.211463] SNAV INFO: ImuManager thread has tid = 3558, nice = -15
[6619.211483] SNAV INFO: Creating VISLAM publishing thread.
[6619.211768] SNAV INFO: VISLAM publishing thread has tid = 3560, nice = -5
VIO camera frame: points:  0 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
[6619.211958] SNAV INFO: VISLAM processing thread has tid = 3559, nice = -5
VIO camera frame: points:  0 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points:  0 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points:  0 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points:  0 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points:  0 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R:  0.000 P: -0.000 Y:  0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X: -0.000 Y:  0.000 Z: -0.000 R: -0.000 P: -0.000 Y: -0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X: -0.000 Y:  0.000 Z:  0.000 R: -0.000 P:  0.000 Y: -0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X: -0.000 Y:  0.001 Z:  0.000 R: -0.001 P: -0.000 Y: -0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X: -0.001 Y: -0.002 Z: -0.005 R:  0.001 P: -0.001 Y: -0.000
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.000 Y: -0.000 Z: -0.008 R:  0.000 P: -0.001 Y: -0.001
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X: -0.000 Y: -0.001 Z: -0.010 R:  0.001 P: -0.002 Y: -0.001
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X: -0.000 Y: -0.000 Z: -0.014 R:  0.002 P: -0.003 Y: -0.001
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.002 Y:  0.002 Z: -0.019 R:  0.001 P: -0.003 Y: -0.002
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.003 Y:  0.002 Z: -0.022 R:  0.001 P: -0.004 Y: -0.002
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.004 Y:  0.002 Z: -0.023 R:  0.001 P: -0.004 Y: -0.001
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.004 Y:  0.001 Z: -0.020 R:  0.001 P: -0.004 Y: -0.001
VIO camera frame: points: 39 X:  0.002 Y:  0.001 Z: -0.015 R:  0.001 P: -0.004 Y: -0.001

In QGroundControl, I can not see the ODOMETRY section in the MAVLink inspector.

My serial # M20000005GT

Lynn Koudsi

@Liping My issue was resolved by installing voxl-qvio. You can reference the diagram here to learn what services are needed for the different interactions.

Liping

@Lynn-Koudsi Thanks Lynn. But in my case, the issue still exists after installing the voxl-qvio.

What are your installed voxl package versions?

I installed some latest stable version packages.

yocto:~#  opkg list-installed | grep "voxl"
libvoxl_io - 0.5.4
voxl-cam-manager - 0.2.2
voxl-docker-support - 1.1.1
voxl-hal3-tof-cam-ros - 0.0.2
voxl-modem - 0.10.0
voxl-mpa-tools - 0.1.6
voxl-nodes - 0.0.8
voxl-qvio-server - 0.2.1
voxl-rtsp - 1.0.2
voxl-time-sync - 0.0.1
voxl-utils - 0.5.2
voxl-vision-px4 - 0.8.1
voxl-vpn - 0.0.2
voxl_imu - 0.0.4

Lynn Koudsi

@Liping Is voxl-qvio actually running? You can check by calling systemctl status voxl-qvio-server it might be that you need calibration files for the tracking camera

Liping

@Lynn-Koudsi It shows waiting for imu and camera. Could you help to point out where is the calibration file located? Is it this calibration process (https://docs.modalai.com/calibrate-cameras/) that you refer to?

yocto:~# systemctl status voxl-qvio-server 

● voxl-qvio-server.service - voxl-qvio-server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/bin/voxl-qvio-server; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Mon 2021-03-08 15:13:41 UTC; 7min ago
 Main PID: 3199 (voxl-qvio-serve)
   CGroup: /system.slice/voxl-qvio-server.service
           └─3199 /usr/bin/voxl-qvio-server

Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: LNX_8096 supported? 1
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: LNX_IA64 supported? 1
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: WINDOWS supported? 0
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: AR ERROR: arFileOpen(): Failed to open file: //vislam/Configuration.SF.xml
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: FASTCV: fcvAvailableHardware Linux
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: mempool cur block size 307200, new block size 307200
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: Please ignore the error about Configuration.SF.xml above. ^^^
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: It's an optional file, and should be a warning not an error
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: waiting for imu
Mar 08 15:13:42 apq8096 voxl-qvio-server[3199]: waiting for cam

Before, I was using the following two command to set the configuration file:

voxl-configure-vision-px4
voxl-configure-modalai-vl

Lynn Koudsi

@Liping that's a curious problem... try checking the status of the imu and camera servers:
systemctl status voxl-camera-server
systemctl status voxl-imu-server

If you check the status of voxl-qvio again, does it say it failed? or it waits forever?

You should have the following calibration files:

etc/snav/calibration.stereo.xml
home/root/.ros/camera_info/left.yaml
home/root/.ros/camera_info/right.yaml
etc/snav/calibration.downward.xml
home/root/.ros/camera_info/downward.yaml

But I'm pretty sure you're going to need

/data/modalai/opencv_stereo_intrinsics.yml
/data/modalai/opencv_stereo_extrinsics.yml

I got those by running the calibration process you referenced.

Lynn Koudsi

@Liping I just realized that you don't have voxl-camera-server installed. You will need that. I also found that having both voxl-camera-server and voxl-cam-manager has given me some issues so I would recommend uninstalling voxl-cam-manager

Lynn Koudsi

@Liping I'm also curious as to where you got voxl_imu from... I don't think I've ever seen that. The correct package is voxl-imu-server and you can find it here. You would have to uninstall voxl_imu

Liping

@Lynn-Koudsi Thanks a lot! The issue has been solved. The QGroundControl shows meaningful ODOMETRY data now. As you mentioned, the issue comes from the voxl-camera-server and voxl-imu-server. voxl-qvio can not get data from both the camera and the imu.

Besides, I noticed that the configuration of the camera and imu does not work as expected. It may be caused by the conflict of the old (imp_app, voxl-cam-manager)and new (voxl-camera-server, voxl-imu-server) camera and imu ipk.

To make it simple, I flashed the image with the System Image 3.2.0 (https://developer.modalai.com/asset/eula-download/64) without installing the voxl-suite, since I want to use the new Modal Pipe Architecture (https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/modal-pipe-architecture).

I manually installed the following voxl packages:

yocto:/#  opkg list-installed | grep "libmodal"
libmodal_json - 0.3.4
libmodal_pipe - 1.7.6

yocto:/#  opkg list-installed | grep "voxl"
libvoxl_io - 0.5.4
voxl-camera-server - 0.5.5
voxl-dfs-server - 0.0.7
voxl-docker-support - 1.1.1
voxl-imu-server - 0.7.8
voxl-mpa-tools - 0.1.6
voxl-qvio-server - 0.2.1
voxl-utils - 0.5.9
voxl-vision-px4 - 0.8.1

Then I run the configuration commands for the qvio, voxl-vision-px4 and camera (voxl-imu-server has done some default configuration during the ipk installation):

yocto:/# voxl-configure-qvio -f
rm: cannot remove '/etc/modalai/voxl-qvio-server.conf': No such file or directory
loading qvio config file
Creating new config file: /etc/modalai/voxl-qvio-server.conf
The config file was modified during parsing, saving the changes to disk
enabling voxl-qvio-server systemd service
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/voxl-qvio-server.service to /etc/systemd/system/voxl-qvio-server.service.
starting voxl-qvio-server systemd service
Done configuring voxl-qvio-server


yocto:/# voxl-configure-vision-px4 -f
rm: cannot remove '/etc/modalai/voxl-vision-px4.conf': No such file or directory
Created new empty json file: /etc/modalai/voxl-vision-px4.conf
The JSON config file data was modified during parsing, saving the changes to disk
enabling voxl-vision-px4 systemd service
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/voxl-vision-px4.service to /etc/systemd/system/voxl-vision-px4.service.
starting voxl-vision-px4 systemd service
DONE configuring voxl-vision-px4


yocto:/# voxl-configure-cameras
...

Regarding the configuration of the camera, i was following the guidance in https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/modal-pipe-architecture/voxl-camera-server to use the command voxl-configure-cameras provided by voxl-utils package.

I rebooted the VOXL and checked related services (camera, imu, qvio, voxl-vision-px4) using

systemctl status

But I noticed that the voxl-camera-server was not automaticly started on boot.
So I enabled it with:

yocto:/# systemctl enable voxl-camera-server

@modaltb Please correct me if any step was not right or there is a better way.

In addition, I also followed the https://forum.modalai.com/topic/70/warning-px4-disconnected-error-message-from-voxl-vision-px4 to solve the WARNING PX4 DISCONNECTED error message from voxl-vision-px4

modaltb

WOW! Thanks @Lynn-Koudsi for the help, when we setup the forum this is the kind of interaction we were hoping for, just awesome!!

Sorry for the setup and 'wonkyness' right now, we've been somewhat caught with getting pre-release software out there without all the setup/docs lined up.... so we're doing a little catchup it seems.

@Liping there until we have our docs updated, if this is working, I'd say this is a good approach!

Thank you both for the details, we'll relay this through the team.

ModalAI Forum

VIO Indoor Navigation