Table of Contents

1. Overview

This application note explains how to use the ZED camera with the Emcraft software distribution for the Renesas RZ/V2H SoC.

2. High-level Overview

The ZED camera support may be seen as a part of the ROS2 support layer. Information on the ROS2 support layer is available from Using ROS2 Layer and APIs .

The ZED camera support is adapted from the TI’s Robotic SDK https://software-dl.ti.com/jacinto7/esd/robotics-sdk/latest/docs/source/README.html, which is based on the OpenCV library.

3. ZED Camera Support Packages

The Emcraft software distribution installs to the target image the following ZED camera support packages:

...

NOTE: More ROS2 demo nodes from the TI’s SDK are going to be adapted soon.

3.1. Understanding ZED Packages Build Process

Emcraft makes use of a separate build environment to build the ZED camera support packages integrated into the Emcraft software distribution for the RZ/V2H SoC.

The build environment is based on the GitHub - ros/meta-ros: OpenEmbedded Layers for ROS 1 and ROS 2 Yocto meta-layer and is configured to build packages for the ARM64 and AMD64 architectures. The built binary packages are then published via a private Debian package archive. The Emcraft software distribution for the RZ/V2H SoC has the PPA included to the APT source list.

4. Verifying ZED Camera Support

4.1. Running ZED Capture ROS2 Node

4.2. Using ROS2 Interface to the ZED Camera

Step through the following procedure to demonstrate use of the ROS2 interface to the ZED camera:

Open a terminal window and login onto the RZ/V2H EVK board using ssh:
Code Block
<terminal 1>$ ssh user@<evk IP>
Connect the ZED camera to the EVK USB 3.x interface.

Check that ZED camera is recognized by USB:

Code Block
user@rzv2hevkalphaemc:~$ v4l2-ctl --list-devices ... ZED 2i: ZED 2i (usb-15860000.usb-1): /dev/video0 /dev/video1 /dev/media5 ...

Run the ROS2 camera node wrapper:

Code Block
<terminal 1>$ ros2 launch zed_capture zed_capture_launch.py zed_sn_str:=SN10026720

Note: If the camera is attached to a different /dev/videoX node, then add the cam_id:=<node num> argument to ros2 launch (eg cam_id:=2 for /dev/video2).

The node will start with providing logs and information on the detected ZED camera:

Code Block

[INFO] [launch]: All log files can be found below /home/user/.ros/log/2023-12-18-11-24-52-897616-rzv2hevkalpha-2902
[INFO] [launch]: Default logging verbosity is set to INFO
[INFO] [zed_capture-1]: process started with pid [2945]
[zed_capture-1] [INFO] [1702898698.084998416] [zed_capture]: Initialize the ZED camera
[zed_capture-1] [ WARN:0] global ./modules/videoio/src/cap_gstreamer.cpp (2075) handleMessage OpenCV | GStreamer warning: Embedded video playback halted; module source reported: Could not read from resource.
[zed_capture-1] [ WARN:0] global ./modules/videoio/src/cap_gstreamer.cpp (1053) open OpenCV | GStreamer warning: unable to start pipeline
[zed_capture-1] [ WARN:0] global ./modules/videoio/src/cap_gstreamer.cpp (616) isPipelinePlaying OpenCV | GStreamer warning: GStreamer: pipeline have not been created
[zed_capture-1] [INFO] [1702898699.271579125] [StereoCamera]: YUV422
[zed_capture-1] [INFO] [1702898699.271702458] [StereoCamera]: Stereo Camera Mode HD, width 1280, height 720
[zed_capture-1] [INFO] [1702898699.432589500] [zed_capture]: Loading camera info from yaml files
[zed_capture-1] [INFO] [1702898699.435826125] [zed_capture]: camera calibration URL: file:///opt/ros/humble/share/zed_capture/config/SN10026720_HD_camera_info_left.yaml
[zed_capture-1] [INFO] [1702898699.439227625] [zed_capture]: camera calibration URL: file:///opt/ros/humble/share/zed_capture/config/SN10026720_HD_camera_info_right.yaml
[zed_capture-1] [INFO] [1702898705.495579435] [zed_capture]: Successfully found the ZED camera
...

Open another terminal window and login onto the EVK:
Code Block
<terminal 2>$ ssh user@<evk IP>

Verify that the camera related topics are present:

Code Block
<terminal 2>$ ros2 topic list /camera/left/camera_info /camera/left/image_raw /camera/right/camera_info /camera/right/image_raw /parameter_events /rosout

Capture the camera information via the camera/left/camera_info topic:

Code Block
<terminal 2>$ ros2 topic echo /camera/left/camera_info

The application will start receiving the camera info message:

Code Block

header:
  stamp:
    sec: 1695145271
    nanosec: 503948931
  frame_id: left_frame
height: 720
width: 1280
distortion_model: plumb_bob
d:
- -0.174814
- 0.0277134
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 0.0
k:
- 701.695
- 0.0
- 645.375
- 0.0
- 701.695
- 351.9755
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 1.0
r:
- 0.9999991771672719
- 0.00021264049636184653
- -0.0012650884548001328
- -0.00021565273732970637
- 0.9999971412291467
- -0.0023813919103813186
- 0.001264578457844275
- 0.0023816627706823587
- 0.999996364255276
p:
- 686.7164431988998
- 0.0
- 643.5791931152344
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 686.7164431988998
- 342.6826591491699
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 1.0
- 0.0
binning_x: 0
binning_y: 0
roi:
  x_offset: 0
  y_offset: 0
  height: 0
  width: 0
  do_rectify: false
---
...

Capture the camera information via the camera/right/camera_info topic:

Code Block
<terminal 2>$ ros2 topic echo /camera/right/camera_info

The application will start receiving the camera info message:

Code Block

header:
  stamp:
    sec: 1695145324
    nanosec: 367362789
  frame_id: right_frame
height: 720
width: 1280
distortion_model: plumb_bob
d:
- -0.174312
- 0.0273345
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 0.0
k:
- 700.655
- 0.0
- 636.98
- 0.0
- 700.655
- 343.9995
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 1.0
r:
- 1.0
- 2.1923516186951437e-14
- -1.2767118909117024e-13
- -2.1624428776507077e-14
- 0.9999971641585754
- 0.002381527830432345
- 1.2772216711642694e-13
- -0.002381527830432344
- 0.9999971641585754
p:
- 686.7164431988998
- 0.0
- 643.5791931152344
- -30357.52616045848
- 0.0
- 686.7164431988998
- 342.6826591491699
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 0.0
- 1.0
- 0.0
binning_x: 0
binning_y: 0
roi:
  x_offset: 0
  y_offset: 0
  height: 0
  width: 0
  do_rectify: false
---
...

Capture the camera information via the camera/left/camera_info topic:

Code Block
<terminal 2>$ ros2 topic echo /camera/left/image_raw

The application will start receiving the camera info message:

Code Block

header:
  stamp:
    sec: 1695145357
    nanosec: 770892888
  frame_id: left_frame
height: 720
width: 1280
encoding: yuv422
is_bigendian: 0
step: 2560
data:
- 132
- 11
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 11
- 134
- 11
- 132
- 11
- 134
- 11
- 132
- 11
- 134
- 11
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 11
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 11
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 11
- 134
- 11
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 135
- 12
- 132
- 13
- 135
- 12
- 133
- 13
- 135
- 14
- 133
- 19
- 136
- 18
- 133
- 23
- 137
- 24
- 133
- 28
- 137
- 25
- 133
- 33
- 138
- 29
- 134
- 46
- 137
- 90
- 120
- 162
- 135
- 170
- 106
- 153
- 135
- 105
- 121
- 57
- 133
- 29
- 131
- 37
- 133
- 40
- 130
- 54
- 133
- 49
- 130
- 36
- 132
- 26
- 131
- 27
- 133
- 29
- 131
- 32
- 134
- 25
- '...'
---
...

Capture the camera information via the camera/right/camera_info topic:

Code Block
<terminal 2>$ ros2 topic echo /camera/right/image_raw

The application will start receiving the camera info message:

Code Block

header:
  stamp:
    sec: 1695145404
    nanosec: 252655285
  frame_id: right_frame
height: 720
width: 1280
encoding: yuv422
is_bigendian: 0
step: 2560
data:
- 131
- 29
- 134
- 25
- 131
- 25
- 134
- 25
- 132
- 29
- 134
- 27
- 132
- 22
- 134
- 14
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 14
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 14
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 14
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 14
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 133
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 133
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 133
- 13
- 135
- 13
- 133
- 13
- 135
- 13
- 133
- 13
- 135
- 13
- 133
- 13
- 135
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 135
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 135
- 13
- 132
- 14
- 135
- 13
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 13
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 13
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- 132
- 12
- 134
- 12
- '...'
---
...

5. Recording Capture and Playing Back the Captured Data in RVIZ

The ZED camera video capture can be played back on a host with installed rviz2. The capture is streamed by the ROS2 layer using the RTPS protocol as being captured, hence it can be played back online. Also, in the absence of an Ethernet connection between the RZ/V2H EVK and the host running rviz2, the ROS2 data can be captured into a bag and then played back by the host.

...

Versions Compared

Old Version 11

New Version 12

Key

1. Overview

2. High-level Overview

3. ZED Camera Support Packages

3.1. Understanding ZED Packages Build Process

4. Verifying ZED Camera Support

4.1. Running ZED Capture ROS2 Node

4.2. Using ROS2 Interface to the ZED Camera

5. Recording Capture and Playing Back the Captured Data in RVIZ

Page Comparison

Versions Compared

Old Version 11

New Version 12

Key

1. Overview

2. High-level Overview

3. ZED Camera Support Packages

3.1. Understanding ZED Packages Build Process

4. Verifying ZED Camera Support

4.1. Running ZED Capture ROS2 Node

4.2. Using ROS2 Interface to the ZED Camera

5. Recording Capture and Playing Back the Captured Data in RVIZ