SLAMBOX Setting

Table of Contents

• Install Serial Communication Tools
• Configure SLAMBOX
  • Check current configuration status on SLAMBOX
  • SLAMBOX Serial Configuration
  • SLAMBOX Ethernet Configuration
  • SLAMBOX Mavlink Configuration
  • SLAMBOX Sensor Configuration

The SLAMBOX configuration can be configured via serial communication with ascii texts

Install Serial Communication Tools

Unix OS

Working with Unix OS, use minicom to configure the SLAMBOX

1. Install minicom

   # For Ubuntu
   sudo apt install minicom
    
   # For Mac OS (Homebrew)
   brew install minicom

2. Add group to user

   Need to add user to group dialout for using the USB or serial port without sudo permission.

   Then reboot your pc to update the user group

   sudo usermod -a -G dialout ${USER}
   sudo reboot now

3. Set port and baudrate

   First, plug in the USB2TTL module

USB2TTL to PC

Check device path.

$ ls -lh /dev/ttyUSB*
 
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188, 0 Dec 11 14:43 /dev/ttyUSB0

Set the serial port and baudrate of your PC. In this tutorial, ${SERIAL_PORT} is /dev/ttyUSB0

minicom -D ${SERIAL_PORT} -b 115200

Set Hardware Flow Control to No. It can be done by pressing <Ctrl>+a -> o -> Serial port setup -> Press f.

+------------------------------------------------+
| A -    Serial Device      : /dev/ttyUSB0       |
| B - Lockfile Location     : /var/lock          |
| C -   Callin Program      :                    |
| D -  Callout Program      :                    |
| E -    Bps/Par/Bits       : 115200 8N1         |
| F - Hardware Flow Control : No                 |
| G - Software Flow Control : No                 |
|                                                |
|    Change which setting?                       |
+------------------------------------------------+

Once you set Hardware Flow Control to NO, presse <Enter> -> <ESC> to escape setting menu.

For your convinience, turn Local echo on by pressing <Ctrl>+a -> z -> e. Minicom does not show you what you type if Local echo is off.

Then, start configuration as your needs by following below section.

NOTE Once you have finished setup process, minicom must be exited in order to continue on next step.

Minicom can be exited by pressing <Ctrl>+a -> x -> <Enter>

Windows OS

1. Install ComPortMaster

   Working with Windows OS, use ComPortMaster to configure the SLAMBOX

   Install the ComPortMaster from the link

2. Connect to SLAMBOX serial

   Please follow settings as below screenshot. Device name might be different depending on your OS condition.

How to use ComPortMaster

If you successfully open port, start configuration as your needs by following below section.

NOTE Once you have finished setup process, you must disconnect connection on ComPortMaster to continue on next step.

Configure SLAMBOX

Use ascii command to change configuration of SLAMBOX

• The commands must be start with $ and ends with # which is header and ender of the command
  • example) If you want to check current configuration status, send $CONFIG#
• The commands are case insensitive. You can use either upper case or lower case.
• The following commands below, type the commands in minicom or ComPortMaster

NOTE The Baudrate of serial connection for setting is fixed to 115200

Check current configuration status on SLAMBOX

You can see current cofiguration status on SLAMBOX by following command.

$CONFIG#

• Example:

  $CONFIG#
  [MAVLINK]
   [enabled] false
   [baudrate] 921600
   [type] px4
  [Serial]
   [enabled] true
   [baudrate] 921600
  [Ethernet]
   [enabled] false
   [port] 21580
   [IP] 192.168.101.101
  [Sensor]
   [type] avia

SLAMBOX Serial Configuration

• SERIAL_ENABLE with option 0 or 1. 0 means to disable and 1 means enable this option
• SERIAL_BAUD with option baudrate.
• Please check the available baud rate table below

NOTE: The maximum and minimum baud rate could be different depands on your USB2TTL device. NOTE Regardless of whether you disable serial communication, this configuration mode will always work with baudrate 115200.

Available baud rate
9600
19200
57600
115200
230400
921600
1000000
1152000
1500000
2000000
2500000
3000000
3500000
4000000

Example) Enable serial communication

$SERIAL_ENABLE 1#

Example) Set baudrate of serial communication to 921600

$SERIAL_BAUD 921600#

NOTE If you set both Serial and UDP communication enabled, pointcloud will only be sent via UDP communication.

SLAMBOX Ethernet Configuration

• ETH_ENABLE with option 0 or 1. 0 means to disable and 1 means enable this option
• ETH_PORT with option port to connect. ex) 8888
• ETH_IP with option IP of host. ex) 192.168.1.50

Example) Enable ethernet communication

$ETH_ENABLE 1#

Example) Set ethernet communication port to 21580

$ETH_PORT 21580#

NOTE If you set both Serial and UDP communication enabled, pointcloud will only be sent via UDP communication.

SLAMBOX Mavlink Configuration

• MAVLINK_ENABLE with option 0 or 1. 0 means to disable and 1 means enable this option
• MAVLINK_BAUD with option baudrate.
• MAVLINK_TYPE with options 0 to 1

option	type
0	px4
1	ardupilot (apm)

NOTE Please check the Avaiable baud rate table

Example) Enable Mavlink communication

$MAVLINK_ENABLE 1#

Example) Set baudrate of Mavlink communication

$MAVLINK_BAUD 921600#

Example) Set Mavlink type for PX4

$MAVLINK_TYPE 0#

SLAMBOX Sensor Configuration

• LIDAR_TYPE with option 0 to 5

option	sensor
1	mid360
2	ouster32
3	ouster64
4	ouster128
5	avia
7	velodyne_puck
8	ML-X

Example) Set LiDAR type to mid360

$LIDAR_TYPE 1#

NOTE Once you have changed LIDAR_TYPE, restarting SLAMBOX device is required to take an effect.

NOTE If you are done with setting SLAMBOX, you must exit serial communication application.