Indoor Lab Networking Setup

Our lab's LAN is not connected to the Internet, so each computer needs a special netplan file such that all DNS traffic goes to UF but all robot traffic stays on our private LAN. Our LAN has a WiFi component. While it can be joined, this is only for robots (unless you have two WiFi cards somehow).

Route DDS Traffic Through Robot Network

Note

ALL USERS ON THE NCR COMPUTERS WILL NEED TO PERFORM THIS STEP. OTHERWISE YOUR NODES WILL NOT WORK.

To get all ROS traffic to be routed through the robot network run

sudo nano uf_fastdds_profile.xml

and paste the following code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<profiles xmlns="http://www.eprosima.com/XMLSchemas/fastRTPS_Profiles">

    <transport_descriptors>
        <transport_descriptor>
            <transport_id>MyRobotUDPTransport</transport_id>
            <type>UDPv4</type>
            <interfaceWhiteList>
                <address>192.168.1.100</address>
            </interfaceWhiteList>
            </transport_descriptor>
    </transport_descriptors>

    <participant profile_name="ParticipantUsingRobotUDP" is_default_profile="true">
        <rtps>
            <useBuiltinTransports>false</useBuiltinTransports> <userTransports>
                <transport_id>MyRobotUDPTransport</transport_id> </userTransports>
        </rtps>
    </participant>

</profiles>

Lastly, set the following environment variables in .bashrc

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=0
export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_fastrtps_cpp
export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=/home/[email protected]/uf_fastdds_profile.xml

Open a new terminal and run your ROS nodes without any networking issues!

Route DNS Traffic Through UF Network

Warning

ONLY PERFORM THE FOLLOWING STEPS IF YOU ARE SETTING UP THE COMPUTER OR SOMETHING WITH THE NETWORK IS BROKEN.

To make everything work properly, we use the following netplan file. Run sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-network-manager-all.yaml and paste the following. This example is for the computer under IP 192.168.1.201 (MAE-BPLJHL2).

You will need to know the device name for your Ethernet (used for robots/LAN) and wireless/WiFi adapater (all computers have a built-in card for it) from ifconfig.

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: NetworkManager 
  ethernets:
    enp0s31f6: # Ethernet interface. Replace with your computer's unique name
      dhcp4: true # Let the Ubiquiti router dictate the IP (should be staticly assigned in the Ubiquiti portal)
      dhcp4-overrides: # Ubiquiti will try and also serve a DNS and default gateway with this local IP. Disable.
        use-routes: false
        use-dns: false

After saving, run sudo netplan apply.

Log in to eduroam (or use ufgetonline's script). If logging in, select "No certificate is required" then select the domain as "ufl.edu" but be sure to still use "@ufl.edu" when typing your UF username and password.

super_client_config.xml

I know you forgot this somewhere. Grab it a fresh one from the ROS 2 tutorial page on this. If one space is off, it may not work!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dds>
    <profiles xmlns="http://www.eprosima.com/XMLSchemas/fastRTPS_Profiles">
        <participant profile_name="super_client_profile" is_default_profile="true">
            <rtps>
                <builtin>
                    <discovery_config>
                        <discoveryProtocol>SUPER_CLIENT</discoveryProtocol>
                        <discoveryServersList>
                            <RemoteServer prefix="44.53.00.5f.45.50.52.4f.53.49.4d.41">
                                <metatrafficUnicastLocatorList>
                                    <locator>
                                        <udpv4>
                                            <address>192.168.1.201</address>
                                            <port>11811</port>
                                        </udpv4>
                                    </locator>
                                </metatrafficUnicastLocatorList>
                            </RemoteServer>
                        </discoveryServersList>
                    </discovery_config>
                </builtin>
            </rtps>
        </participant>
    </profiles>
</dds>

Add to .bashrc

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.sh
export ROS_DOMAIN_ID=0
export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_fastrtps_cpp
export ROS_DISCOVERY_SERVER=192.168.1.201:11811
export FASTRTPS_DEFAULT_PROFILES_FILE=~/super_client_config.xml