ELIC-Calib: A C++ repository from Hchu2

ELIC-Calib

This is an initial version of a toolkit for spatiotemporal calibration of Multiple IMUs and Muiltple LiDARs without relying on artificial targets and specific movements. Both mechanical LiDARs (e.g., Velodyne and Ouster) and solid-state LiDAR (e.g., Livox-MID70).

News

[2023/10/29] - Initial release of code and dataset.

Code Structure

The whole project is a ROS (only tested on Ubuntu 20.04 noetic) workspace. It contains three ros packages:
- elic_calib: the main package to solve calibration issue;
Here are the thirdparties:
- ROS (noetic), Ceres, PCL, OpenCV, OpenMVG, Sophus, yaml-cpp, magic-enum, fmt, icecream-cpp, cereal
Here are the self-building parties:
- logger, slam-scene-viewer, pretty-table

System Overview

Boot ELIC-Calib

preparation

install ROS (for Ubuntu 20.04):

sudo apt install ros-noetic-desktop-full
echo "source /opt/ros/noetic/setup.bash" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

note that the 'OpenCV' and 'PCL' libraries are integrated into it.

install Ceres:
```
sudo apt-get install libceres-dev
```
install OpenMVG:

see the GitHub Profile of openMVG library, clone it, compile it, and install it. Build shared library!
install Sophus:

see the GitHub Profile of Sophus library, clone it, compile it, and install it.
install yaml-cpp:
```
sudo apt-get install libyaml-cpp-dev
```
install magic-enum:

see the GitHub Profile of magic-enum library, clone it, compile it, and install it.
install fmt:
```
sudo apt-get install libfmt-dev
```
install icecream-cpp:

see the GitHub Profile of icecream-cpp library, clone it, compile it, and install it.
install Cereal:
```
sudo apt-get install libcereal-dev
```
clone submodules of LIC-Calib:
```
git submodule update --remote
```
change directory to '{*}/ELIC-Calib/src/elic_calib/thirdparty', and create folder named 'slam-scene-viewer-build' where the 'slam-scene-viewer' would be built.
```
cd {*}/ELIC-Calib/src/elic_calib/thirdparty
mkdir slam-scene-viewer-build
cd slam-scene-viewer-build
cmake ../slam-scene-viewer
make -j8
```
other modules are header-only libraries, which means they don't need to be compiled.

compile ELIC-Calib

change directory to the ros workspace (i.e., {*}/ELIC-Calib/), and run:
```
catkin_make
```

Run simulated dataset

An example of simulated dataset and reference spatiotemporal parameters are available at OneDrive. For more details on how to generate simulation environment and simulation data, please contact the author.

Download the simulated dataset
Modify the default yaml in “elic-calib.launch” to "elic-config-sim.yaml"
Modify the "BagPath", "ParamSavePath", "OutputDataDir" in "elic-config-real.yaml" according to your environment
Turn on "dt = 0.0;" on line 481 of "lidar_data_loader.cpp" and catkin_make again
Source it and run it! "roslaunch elic_calib elic_calib.launch"

Run real-world dataset

An example of real-world dataset and reference spatiotemporal parameters are available at OneDrive.

Download the real-world dataset
Modify the default yaml in “elic-calib.launch” to "elic-config-real.yaml"
Modify the "BagPath", "ParamSavePath", "OutputDataDir" in "elic-config-sim.yaml" according to your environment
Comment out "dt = 0.0;" on line 481 of "lidar_data_loader.cpp" and catkin_make again
Source it and run it! "roslaunch elic_calib elic_calib.launch"

TODO

The NDT registration may fail when initializing livox. Using loam_livox to obtain a simple map in advance can improve the calibration success rate.
Due to the small field of view of Livox LiDAR, it is prone to degradation cases.

Credit / Licensing

The codebase and documentation is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPL-3).

Hchu2/ELIC-Calib