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2 Product Information: YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT

2.3 Usage Instructions: Linux ROS Operation

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

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

Usage Instructions: Linux ROS Operation

Connect the GS2 to the PC.
Compile and install the YDlidar-SDK.
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.

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DOC #:01.13.006002

www.ydlidar.com

CONTENTS
1 YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT …………………………………….. 1 1.1 Development Kit ……………………………………………………………………………….. 1
2 USAGE UNDER WINDOWS …………………………………………………………….. 1 2.1 Device Connection……………………………………………………………………………. 1 2.2 Driver Installation ……………………………………………………………………………… 2 2.3 Evaluation Software Usage ………………………………………………………………. 4
2.3.1 Start Scanning……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 2.3.2 Data Storage ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 2.3.3 Display Mean and Standard Deviation…………………………………………………………. 6 2.3.4 Play and Record …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 2.3.5 Debug…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7 2.3.6 Split Screen ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
3 LINUX ROS OPERATION …………………………………………………………………. 8 3.1 Device Connection……………………………………………………………………………. 8 3.2 Compile and Install YDlidar-SDK ……………………………………………………… 8
3.2.1 SDK compilation ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 8 3.2.2 Run the SDK samples ……………………………………………………………………………………. 9
3.3 The use of ROS under Ubuntu ………………………………………………………….. 9 4 CAUTION ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 10
4.1 Ambient Temperature …………………………………………………………………….. 10 4.2 Ambient Lighting……………………………………………………………………………..10 4.3 Power Supply……………………………………………………………………………………10 5 REVISE …………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
Copyright 2022 EAI All Rights Reserved

1 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.
1.1 Development Kit
The GS2 development kit has the following components

GS2 LiDAR

USB Type-C Cable

USB Adapter Board

YDLIDAR GS2 DEVELOPMENT KIT
CHART 1 YDLIDAR GS2 LIDAR DEVELOPMENT KIT DESCRIPTION

Item
GS2 lidar
USB Type-C Cable
USB Adapter Board

Qty.

Description

Standard version of the GS2 lidar.

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

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.

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

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YDLIDAR GS2 DEVICE CONNECTION
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.

YDLIDAR GS2 AUXILIARY POWER SUPPLY
2.2 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.

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YDLIDAR GS2 DRIVER VERSION SELECTION
Double-click the exe file and follow the prompts to install it.

YDLIDAR GS2 DRIVER INSTALLING
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).

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YDLIDAR GS2 DRIVER INSTALLATION CHECK
2.3 Evaluation Software Usage
YDLIDAR provides Point Cloud Viewer, a point cloud data visualization software LidarViewer for GS2 real-time scanning. Users can intuitively observe the GS2 scanning effect chart. GDL realtime 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
Copyright 2022 EAI All Rights Reserved

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POINTCLOUD VIEWER INTERFACE
2.3.1 Start Scanning
Click to start scanning and display the environment point cloud, the upper left corner displays the angle & distance information of the red line position (unit: mm). Click to stop it. as shown below:

LIDAR SCANNING POINT CLOUD DISPLAY
Copyright 2022 EAI All Rights Reserved

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2.3.2 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.
SAVE DATA
2.3.3 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].

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The main window is displayed

RECORD AND PLAY
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:

PLAY PROCESS
2.3.5 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

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2.3.6Split Screen
Right-click the pop-up menu and select [Split Screen Display] to display up to 3 GS2 cascaded point cloud data.

SPLIT SCREEN DISPLAY
Note: For more functions of LidarViewer, please click [Help], select [More Information], and learn more about how to use it.
3 LINUX ROS OPERATION
There are many Linux versionsthis article only uses Ubuntu 18.04, Melodic version ROS as an example.
3.1 Device Connection
Under Linux, the GS2 and PC interconnect processes are consistent with those under Windows. See Device Connection under Window.
3.2 Compile and Install YDlidar-SDK 3.2.1SDK compilation
In the SDK directory, run the following command to compile the project:

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$ cd build $ cmake .. $ make
3.2.2Run the SDK samples
In the build folder, run ydlidar_test: $ ./ydlidar.test
It can be seen the following SDK Scanning information:

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4 CAUTION
4.1 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.
4.2 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.
4.3 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.

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5 REVISE
Date 2022-01-19

Version 1.0

Content Revision

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