YDLIDAR GS2 Lidar Focus Sensor User Manual

YDLIDAR GS2 Lidar Focus Sensor

Product Information: YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT

The YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT is a tool designed for performance evaluation and early development of the GS2. The kit comes with a GS2 LiDAR, USB Type-C Cable, and a USB Adapter Board which connects the GS2 to a PC. With the evaluation software provided, users can observe point cloud data scanned by the GS2 in their environment or develop on the SDK.

Development Kit Components

The components of the GS2 development kit are:

• GS2 LiDAR
• USB Type-C Cable
• USB Adapter Board

The USB Type-C Cable is used with the USB Adapter Board to connect the GS2 and PC. The cable serves as both a power supply cable and a data cable. The USB Adapter Board realizes the function of USB to UART, which is convenient for fast interconnection between the GS2 and PC.

Note that the USB Adapter Board has two USB TYPE C interfaces: USB_DATA and USB_PWR. USB_DATA is a data-powered interface that can be used to meet power and communication requirements in most cases. USB_PWR is an auxiliary power supply interface. In situations where the USB interface of some development platforms has weak current drive capability, auxiliary power supply can be used.

Usage Instructions: Windows

1. Connect the GS2 to the PC using the USB Type-C Cable and USB Adapter Board.
2. Install the required drivers for the GS2.
3. Use the evaluation software provided to observe point cloud data or develop on the SDK.

Usage Instructions: Linux ROS Operation

1. Connect the GS2 to the PC.
2. Compile and install the YDlidar-SDK.
3. Use ROS under Ubuntu to observe point cloud data or develop on the SDK.

Caution

When using the YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT, users should take note of the following:

• Ambient Temperature: Ensure that the operating temperature is within the specified range.
• Ambient Lighting: Avoid using the GS2 in direct sunlight or strong artificial light.
• Power Supply: Use the appropriate power supply for the USB Adapter Board.

Copyright 2022 EAI All Rights Reserved

YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT

The development kit of YDLIDAR GS2 lidar (hereinafter referred to as GS2) is an accessory tool provided for performance evaluation and early development of the GS2. Through the GS2 development kit, and with the evaluation software, users can observe point cloud data scanned by GS2 on your environment or development on the SDK.

Development Kit

The GS2 development kit has the following components：

CHART 1 YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT DESCRIPTION

Item

| Qty.|

Description

---|---|---

GS2 lidar

| 1|

Standard version of the GS2 lidar.

USB Type-C Cable

| 1|

Use with USB adapter board to connect GS2 and PC. USB cable is both a power supply cable and a data cable

USB Adapter Board| 1|

Realize the function of USB to UART, which is convenient for the fast interconnection between GS2 and PC.

Note
USB Adapter board has two USB TYPE C interface: USB_DATA, USB_PWR.
USB_DATA: Data powered interface. In most cases, this interface can be used to meet power and communication requirements.
USB_PWR: Auxiliary power supply interface. The USB interface of some development platforms has weak current drive capability. At this time, auxiliary power supply can be used.

USAGE UNDER WINDOWS

Device Connection
When evaluating and developing GS2 under windows, GS2 and PC needed to be connected. The specific process is as follows:

Connect the adapter board with GS2 first, then connect the USB cable to the USB port of the adapter board and the PC. Note that the Type-C interface of the USB cable is connected to the USB_DATA of the USB adapter board. The drive current of USB interface of some development platforms or PC is not sufficient. GS2 need to be connected to the auxiliary power supply of +5V, otherwise the lidar will be abnormal.

Driver Installation
To evaluate and develop the GS2 under Windows, the serial port driver of the USB adapter board. The USB adapter board need to be installed of this kit adopts CP2102 chip to realize serial port (UART) to USB signal conversion. Its driver can be downloaded from our official website or downloaded from the official website of Silicon Labs.

https://www.ydlidar.com/dowfile.html?id=97
http://cn.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge- vcp-drivers

After unzip the driver package, run the CP2102’s Windows driver installation file (exe file under CP210x_VCP_Windows). Please select the 32-bit version (x86) or 64-bit version (x64) installation program according to the version of the windows operating system. Copyright 2022 EAI All Rights Reserved

Double-click the exe file and follow the prompts to install it.

After the installation is complete, right-click on [My Computer] and select [Properties]. On the open [System] screen, select [Device Manager] from the left menu to access the [Device Manager].
Expand [Port] to see the serial port name corresponding to the identified USB adapter, that is, the driver installation is successful. The following figure shows COM3. (Note that the port must be checked in case of GS2 and PC interconnection).

YDLIDAR GS2 DRIVER INSTALLATION CHECK

Evaluation Software Usage
YDLIDAR provides Point Cloud Viewer, a point cloud data visualization software Lidar Viewer for GS2 real-time scanning. Users can intuitively observe the GS2 scanning effect chart. GDL real- time point cloud data and real-time scanning frequency are provided on YDLIDAR. At the same time, save the scanned data offline to an external file for further analysis. Before using the YDLIDAR software, make sure that the GS2 USB adapter board serial port driver is installed successfully, and interconnect the GS2 with the USB port of the PC. Run the evaluation software: LidarViewer.exe, select the corresponding serial port number and model number. Meanwhile, users could choose language on the top right corner.

YDLIDAR GS2 EVALUATION SOFTWARE

If the connection is correct, users will see the following screen：

POINTCLOUD VIEWER INTERFACE

Start Scanning

Click  displays the angle & distance information of the red line position (unit: mm). Click to stop it. as  shown below:

Data Storage
During lidar scanning, click [File] in the main menu, select [Export to Excel], and save point cloud data according to the prompts. Then the system will save the point cloud information scanned in a circle in Excel format.

Display Mean and Standard Deviation

Click [Tools] in the main menu, then select [Mean And STD] – [View].

YDLIDAR GS2 DISPLAY MEAN AND STANDARD DEVIATION

Choose one according to needs, move the mouse to the test position, right- click the pop-up menu, and select [Lock Mouse Tracking].

Play and Record
Click [Tools] in the main menu, then select [Record and Play].

RECORD AND PLAY

The main window is displayed   as follows:
To record lidar data, click  to start recording, and click to stop recording.
In non-scanning mode, click to start play.
The play process is as follows:

Debug
Click [Tools] in the main menu, and then select [DebugON] to output the raw lidar data to the “viewer_log.txt” and “viewer_log_err.txt” files.

START DEBUGGING

Split Screen
Right-click the pop-up menu and select [Split Screen Display] to display up to 3 GS2 cascaded point cloud data.

LINUX ROS OPERATION
There are many Linux versions，this article only uses Ubuntu 18.04, Melodic version ROS as an example.

Device Connection
Under Linux, the GS2 and PC interconnect processes are consistent with those under Windows. See Device Connection under Window.

Compile and Install YDlidar-SDK

SDK compilation

In the SDK directory, run the following command to compile the project:

Run the SDK samples

It can be seen the following SDK Scanning information:

The use of ROS under Ubuntu
The Ros driver package is under development.

CAUTION

Ambient Temperature
When the working environment temperature of GS2 is over high or over low, it will affect the accuracy of the distance measuring system. It may also damage the structure of the scanning system and reduce the service life of the GS2 lidar. Avoid using in high temperature (>50 degrees Celsius) and low temperature (<0 degrees Celsius) conditions.

Ambient Lighting
The ideal working environment of GS2 is indoor, and the indoor environment light (including no light) will not affect the work of GS2. However, please avoid using strong light sources (such as high-power lasers) to directly illuminate the GS2 vision system. If the users need to use it outdoors, please avoid the GS2’s vision system directly facing the sun, which may cause permanent damage to the vision system’s photosensitive chip, which will invalidate the range finding. The GS2 standard version will cause interference in the distance measurement under the conditions of strong sunlight reflection outdoors, please pay attention to it.

Power Supply
During the development process, since the drive current of the USB interface of each platform or the USB interface of the computer may be too low to drive the GS2, the external power supply of the +5V to the GS2 needs to be provided through the USB_PWR interface of the USB interface board. It is not recommended for use mobile phone power bank because the voltage ripple of power bank is too large.

REVISE

Copyright 2022 EAI All Rights Reserved.

References

• CP210x USB 至 UART 桥 VCP 驱动器 - 芯科科技
• ydlidar.com/dowfile.html?id=97

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