SF000 ROS 2 Driver

A ROS 2 driver package for the Lightware SF000 Series LiDAR sensor, developed and maintained by [Indowings R&D].

This driver enables integration of the SF000 LiDAR sensor with ROS 2-based robotics systems for reliable and real-time distance measurement.

---

📦 Package Overview

• Sensor: Lightware SF000 Series
• ROS 2 Compatibility: Humble
• Communication: Serial / UART -For I2C, specific code is mentioned in a different python file
• Message Type: sensor_msgs/Range
• Node Name: sf000_lidar_node

---

🛠️ Installation | Building | Running

1. Clone into your ROS 2 workspace

cd ~/your_ros2_ws/src
git clone git@github.com:RnD-Indowings/iw_sf000_ros2_driver.git

OR you can directly clone down the ws!

2. Build the workspace

cd ~/your_ros2_ws
colcon build 
source install/setup.bash

3. Run the node

ros2 run sf000_lidar sf000_driver

🧪 Test

Use rqt_graph or ros2 topic echo to visualize data:

ros2 topic echo /sf000/range

🔌 Manual Testing with I2C in RPI5

Run:
"python3 i2c_connection_rpi.py"

Steps:
sudo raspi-config
Path: Interfacing Options -> I2C -> Enable
sudo reboot
sudo apt install i2c-tools
i2cdetect -y 1    #--detection of registers
i2cget -y 1 0x66 0x00 w   #-- raw data
i2cdump -y 1 0x66  #--i2c dump 

**pySerial should be installed -- i2c should be enabled through raspi-config -- **

FOR this Lidar:(When you read multi-byte data (like a 16-bit distance value) from an I2C device, the order in which the bytes are sent matters. This is called Endianness)

If the device returns big-endian data, you must combine bytes accordingly:
dist_cm = (data[0] << 8) + data[1]  # MSB first (big-endian)

If little-endian, it would be:
dist_cm = (data[1] << 8) + data[0]  # LSB first

Mismatch in endianness = incorrect distance values.

👨‍💻 Maintainer

Udit Ray
Email: udit.ray@indowings.com
Org: Indo Wings Private Limited
Website: https://www.indowings.com

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.