Dynamic map loading functionality in Autoware for large pointcloud maps

[kminoda]

Hi all,

We are currently working on a dynamic map loading feature for the current autoware.universe, aiming at scaling the current Autoware to a larger pointcloud map which is difficult to load at once due to the computational resources.

Some of the requirements we have in mind are as follows:

• performance of some packages that use pointcloud map (ndt_scan_matcher, elevation_map_loader, and *_compare_map_filter) should not degrade
• computations that occur when loading a new pointcloud map(s) should meet the computational requirements (e.g. reasonable memory bandwidth)
• loading partial maps should not induce chattering

We've already implemented a prototype in this PR. The core idea of this implementation is to divide a large pointcloud map into grids (with, say, 100m x 100m) and load partial maps within the radius of 300m from the ego-vehicle with a new package map_provider.

Let us know if you have any comments on this implementation or this topic. We especially would like to know if any of you are already facing/working on the issue of large pointcloud maps.

dynamic_map_loading-2022-06-29_15.19.17_10x.mp4

[VRichardJP]

Do you plan to add diagnostic messages to monitor map loading state?
In particular, I think it is important to be able to detect when a chunk has failed to be loaded, or when the ego vehicle is getting too close from the current chunk boundaries.

[kminoda]

Thank you! I agree with your idea.
We have not implemented such diagnostics yet, but yes, we will do that before finalizing the PR.

[sayondeep]

@kminoda Can you please help, how to get this vizualization in autoware?
I am able to load the split .pcd files into autoware but not able to get this vizualization.

[kminoda]

I will answer your question here: https://github.com/orgs/autowarefoundation/discussions/3345