[ros-users] ROS & DDS

[Markus Eich]

Hi Brian,

we have extensively used DDS in combination with ROS. What we basically
did is to implement ROS<=>DDS proxies which are pushing topics to the
DDS cloud and
vice versa. The advantage we see in using DDS is the quality of service
(e.g. that it can be assured that no data is lost, even if the
connection fails.).
another advantage using ROS-DDS proxies is that the very same code can
be run without running DDS (only that the robot does not receive other
messages).

In our experiments, we used localized laser scans in a multi-robot
scenario using graph-based slam approaches. Each robots uses its own
roscore and the shared DDS topics (coming from other robots) to generate
a common map during our distributed exploration approach.

In this scenario it would be critical, if scans are lost and not added
to the pose graph. If the WiFi connection breaks down all scans are
buffered by the DDS cloud and re-sent once the connection is re-established.

Our JFR  paper, where we used ROS with DDS can be found here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rob.21491/abstract

We used the Prismtech implementation of DDS which also provide an
academic license.

Only drawback with DDS is that it is somewhat hard to set up with all
the parameters, especially if you have no expensive enterprise edition
(including support).
Maybe there are other implementations of DDS.

More detailed questions related to DDS can be send directly to me ;-)

Cheers,

Markus


Am 12.02.2014 17:56, schrieb Brian Gerkey:
> hi,
>
> As we work on improving the communications middleware within ROS, one
> of the approaches that has come up repeatedly is DDS (Data
> Distribution Service; http://portals.omg.org/dds/).  There are lots of
> positive aspects of DDS as a middleware, and of course some tradeoffs
> (e.g., in exchange for lots of features in the message transport, the
> API is incredibly verbose; while there are open source
> implementations, there's not the feeling of an active community doing
> development on them).
>
> We'd like to understand what the level of interest is within the ROS
> community for DDS support.
>
> So, for those of you who already know something about DDS (especially
> if you have experience using it), here are some questions to start a
> discussion.  Don't feel obliged to answer every question, and also
> feel free to answer questions not asked here.  If you prefer, you can
> reply directly to me, and we'll anonymize your comments before
> potentially sharing them.
>
> What's your opinion of DDS (good, bad, ugly, other)?  If you like DDS,
> why?  If you don't like it, why not?
>
> How would you compare DDS to the ROS middleware?
>
> Do you see others in your field using DDS?  Have you ever wished that
> ROS could "speak DDS"?  Have you already used DDS in combination with
> ROS?
>
> thanks,
> brian.
> _______________________________________________
> ros-users mailing list
> ros-users at lists.ros.org
> http://lists.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users


-- 
 Dr.-Ing. Markus Eich

 Project Management
 Marine Inspection Robotics
 Space Robotics
 
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