This package is a modified copy of the ROS Indigo version of loam_velodyne to function with the KITTI dataset.
Main changes have been done in:
scanRegistration.cpp renamed to scanRegistrationKittiROS.cpp
where at the end of this file the KITTI Dataset is published by reading the .bin files and converting it to point cloud data.
Additionally, point clouds from each .bin file are published in a lower rate (4 Hz). This was done because in the experiments done with my computer the original rate of the LiDAR was making the LOAM algorithm drop some point clouds, which resulted in an incorrect trajectory.
Also, transformToEnd() and transformToStart() functions have been modified since the KITTI Dataset is distorsion free.
The separation of the Velodyne HDL-64's rings have been done according to laboshinl's code
Before building the project, it is important to consider the KITTI Dataset file structure. All the KITTI dataset need to be in a same folder. This folder should have the following structure:
.
├── data_odometry_calib
├── data_odometry_poses
└── data_odometry_velodynedata_odometry_calib contains the files: calib.txt and times.txt for each sequence.
data_odometry_poses contains the ground truth files for each sequence.
data_odometry_velodyne contains the .bin files for each sequence.
All previously mentioned folders have inside the same structure as downloaded from the KITTI website.
How to build:
$ cd catkin_ws
$ catkin_make
Running:
$ roslaunch loam_velodyne_kitti_ros loam_velodyne_kitti_ros.launch
$ rosrun loam_velodyne_kitti_ros record_loam_odometry.py
$ ./src/loam_velodyne_kitti_ros/scripts/plot_trajectory LOAMTrajectory.txt