T265 Intel Realsense Tracking Camera (VIO)

The Intel Realsense Tracking Camera T265 (opens new window) provides odometry information that can be used for VIO, augmenting or replacing other positioning systems on PX4.

TIP

This camera is recommended, and is used in the Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) > Supported Setup.

Purchase Link

Intel® RealSense™ Tracking Camera T265 (opens new window) (store.intelrealsense.com)

Setup Instructions

The instructions in Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) explain how to set up this camera.

At high level:

• The VIO bridge ROS node (opens new window) provides a bridge between ROS and this camera. This node is only intended for use with this camera.
• The camera should be mounted with lenses facing down (default). For other orientations modify bridge.launch (opens new window) in the section below:

  <node pkg="tf" type="static_transform_publisher" name="tf_baseLink_cameraPose"
      args="0 0 0 0 1.5708 0 base_link camera_pose_frame 1000"/>
  

  This is a static transform that links the camera ROS frame camera_pose_frame to the mavros drone frame base_link.
  • the first three args specify translation x,y,z in metres from the center of flight controller to camera. For example, if the camera is 10cm in front of the controller and 4cm up, the first three numbers would be : [0.1, 0, 0.04,...]
  • the next three args specify rotation in radians (yaw, pitch, roll). So [... 0, 1.5708, 0] means pitch down by 90deg (facing the ground). Facing straight forward would be [... 0 0 0].
• The camera is sensitive to high frequency vibrations! It should be soft-mounted with, for example, vibration isolation foam.

Launch files are provided for a number of different scenarios.

Launch File	Starts	Description
bridge_mavros.launch (opens new window)	Bridge, MAVROS	Use on vehicle in most cases
bridge.launch (opens new window)	Bridge only	Use if some other component is responsible for starting MAVROS).
bridge_mavros_sitl.launch (opens new window)	Bridge, MAVROS, SITL	Use for simulation.