Wired connection for ROS data from VOXL CAM to companion computer
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I'm evaluating adding a VOXL cam to an existing rover setup, for its ability to generate point clouds and compute visual odometry. I want to get point cloud data from the VOXL cam flowing into our ROS environment on our companion computer. I'm trying to avoid writing additional software to run on the VOXL, since we already have our main ROS software stack running on this companion computer. I was hoping to treat the VOXL CAM as a plug-in peripheral, which may or not be possible.
The VOXL cam comes out of the box with at least two wired connections: the USB ADB connection, and a serial link, which the software (the qvio daemon I believe specifically?) uses to send pose solutions to an external device (we're using a Pixhawk right now). Can either of these be configured to send ROS data in any way? As far as I know ROS typically expects a TCP/IP stack, but maybe there's some sort of bridge for ADB?
There's WiFi connectivity available, but we're already using the WiFi on our companion computer for something else. We'd need some design compromises to include the VOXL in that network. Plus, it just feels stunningly ridiculous to need a wireless connection between two parts of the same rover.
Is there any way to establish a wired network connection to the VOXL CAM? Or, to communicate ROS data over the existing wired interfaces (ADB, serial)? Our existing software stack is in ROS2, so that's also a bridge we'll have to cross.
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@jdw-creare The standard way to do this is to attach an Ethernet dongle to a USB port. For VOXL you need an add-on board that exposes one or more USB ports on JST connectors.
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@Eric-Katzfey Thanks Eric, that makes sense!
