PointCloud to LaserScan Converter

This node converts 3D point clouds (PointCloud2) to 2D laser scans (LaserScan) with configurable height, angle, and range filtering. It applies a 3D transform to points before projection. This node is cross-compatible with ROS1 and ROS2 (the build automatically detects the ROS version).

Dependencies

• ROS: ROS1 Noetic or ROS2 Humble/Iron
• System Packages:

  # Ubuntu/Debian
  sudo apt install build-essential cmake libgoogle-glog-dev libgflags-dev \
                   liblua5.1-0-dev libeigen3-dev

Setup

1. Clone this repository.

2. For ROS1: Add to your ~/.bashrc:

   echo "export ROS_PACKAGE_PATH=$(pwd):\$ROS_PACKAGE_PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

3. For ROS2: Add to your ~/.bashrc:

   echo "export AMENT_PREFIX_PATH=$(pwd)/install:\$AMENT_PREFIX_PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
   source ~/.bashrc

4. Build:

   make

Usage

Configuration

Edit config/highbeams.lua to configure:

• range_min/max: Distance filtering (m)
• angle_min/max: Angular range (rad)
• height_min/max: Z-axis filtering (m)
• num_ranges: Number of laser scan rays
• Topics: Input PointCloud2 and output LaserScan topic names

Run

# Start the converter
./bin/pointcloud_to_laserscan --config=config/highbeams.lua

# With verbose output
./bin/pointcloud_to_laserscan --config=config/highbeams.lua --v=1