Revision as of 02:11, 27 June 2025

Introduction

Time Sync Viewer is a time synchronization detection tool specifically designed for ROS2, provided as an rqt plugin. It is used to monitor and analyze the synchronization status of multi-sensor data in real time. In robotics applications, ensuring accurate time synchronization is crucial, as it directly affects the performance and stability of technologies such as SLAM, deep learning, and sensor fusion. Time Sync Viewer provides synchronization detection, visual analysis, and detailed time statistics, helping developers quickly identify and resolve synchronization issues.

Features and Advantages:

• Multi-Sensor Timestamps Visualization: Visually displays the timestamps of multiple sensors to help users check data alignment.
• Time Synchronization Flag (sync_flag): Automatically triggers a flag when synchronization conditions are met, providing instant confirmation.
• Sensor Check: Assists users in identifying hardware delays, network jitter, and data loss that may result in incomplete data.
• Improved Sensor Fusion: Enhances data consistency and stability for applications such as SLAM, robotic arms, drones, and AMRs.

Note: Time Sync Viewer is only supported on Ubuntu 22.04

GUI Description

Example Using Camera, IMU, and LiDAR

1. Time Axis Display
   • The image displays the timestamps of different data streams (topics), where each horizontal line represents a topic. Examples include:：
     • camera (camera image)
     • imu (IMU data)
     • lidar (LiDAR scan)
     • z_sync_flag (sync flag)
2. Synchronization Range
   • In this example, the sync_range is configured with 2ms, meaning that data points arriving within this 2-millisecond window are considered synchronized.
   • On the time axis, when a synchronization event is triggered, a sync_flag is marked.
3. Synchronization Analysis
   • When all sensor data points fall within the 2ms range, they are considered synchronized (sync).
   • The image displays multiple sync points, indicating that at those moments, the sensor data is properly synchronized.

How to

Step

• Step 1: Publish fake sensor data, including camera, IMU, and LiDAR(you can also use actual sensors)

In terminal 1, publish camera topic

cd /usr/local/Advantech/ros/humble/ros2-timesync-viewer/test/fake_sensor
python3 camera.py

In terminal 2, publish lidar topic

cd /usr/local/Advantech/ros/humble/ros2-timesync-viewer/test/fake_sensor
python3 lidar.py

In terminal 3, publish imu topic

cd /usr/local/Advantech/ros/humble/ros2-timesync-viewer/test/fake_sensor
python3 imu.py

• Step 2: Run Time Sync Viewer in Web UI, select "Utility" from the list on the left

• Step 3: Set Sync Period to a value between 1ms and 2000ms (default: 100ms)

• Step 4: Click launch button, then will open Time Sync Viewer window

• Step 5: Click start button

• Step 6: Select the topics that you want to view, then click OK

• Result:

Note

1. Recommended to reopen the UI after using it for more than 5 hours to avoid lag.
2. To verify a custom or specialized topic, you must first add a source command for the corresponding environment to the .bashrc file. This is a mechanism in ROS2 to ensure that the system loads the correct development environment and package paths, allowing the topic to function properly.
3. If the Time Sync Viewer UI fails to display, first check whether the current environment's DISPLAY parameter is set to :0, if not, update the DISPLAY variable in /usr/local/Advantech/E2I/robotic-node-client/run.sh, save the file, and then rerun the app.