Velodyne VLP 16 plugin

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When running in a simulated Velodyne VLP-16 in gazebo, you can check the real time factor. I used it almost an year ago and it ran at 0.3 * time real time, but it will vary depending upon your pc specs. At that point plugin ran on CPU, and around a month ago they released it with gpu support so it would definitely improve real time factor alot.

<gazebo reference="${name}_link">
  <sensor type="${sensor_type}" name="VLP16">
    <pose>0 0 0 0 0 0</pose>
    <update_rate>10</update_rate>
    <ray>
      <scan>
        <horizontal>
          <samples>360</samples>
          <resolution>1</resolution>
          <min_angle>-${M_PI}</min_angle>
          <max_angle> ${M_PI}</max_angle>
        </horizontal>
        <vertical>
          <samples>16</samples>
          <resolution>1</resolution>
          <min_angle>-${15.0*M_PI/180.0}</min_angle>
          <max_angle> ${15.0*M_PI/180.0}</max_angle>
        </vertical>
      </scan>
      <range>
        <min>1.0</min>
        <max>140.0</max>
        <resolution>0.001</resolution>
      </range>
      <noise>
        <type>gaussian</type>
        <mean>0.0</mean>
        <stddev>0.0</stddev>
      </noise>
    </ray>
    <plugin name="gazebo_ros_laser_controller" filename="libgazebo_ros_velodyne_laser.so">
      <topicName>${ros_topic}</topicName>
      <frameName>${name}_link</frameName>
      <min_range>1.0</min_range>
      <max_range>140.0</max_range>
      <gaussianNoise>0.008</gaussianNoise>
    </plugin>
  </sensor>
</gazebo>

It's pretty straight forward, beams (samples) along x, along y, M_PI is 3.14, and ranges is between 1-140 m, that's more or less what actual thing has. You can also add noise if you wish. Hope this answered your question.