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custom field type for ROS msg

asked 2018-07-25 11:42:30 -0500

mohthepro gravatar image

updated 2018-07-27 13:11:20 -0500

We're trying to read a radar udp packet and one of the data types is of a RadarDetection[] type which is not supported by ROS (because its a custom type) the size of each index is 224 bits, one solution Im thinking of is :

-creating a message that contains int64[4] RadarDetection_custom and then use that message as a field type to represent the RadarDetection type but with 256 bits instead 224

I am not confident that this solution will work and I was wondering if there is a better solution than this

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Could you reformat your question with more punctuation and more information about the data you want to send? You should also check your numbers. int64[3] would only hold 192 bits, not 256, and where did "215" come from?

Geoff gravatar image Geoff  ( 2018-07-25 18:39:21 -0500 )edit

Sorry I meant int64[4], and I reformatted the question to make it easier to read, the 215 bits is just the size of the field type that I am receiving from the radar's UDP packets, I dont know why the radar manufacturers made it like so

mohthepro gravatar image mohthepro  ( 2018-07-26 09:35:55 -0500 )edit

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answered 2018-07-25 18:58:13 -0500

Geoff gravatar image

updated 2018-07-25 19:00:24 -0500

An array of int8 28 values long will give you 224 bits. This is the usual approach to storing a binary blob such as your RadarDetection type. It will be presented as a boost::array of int8_t, which you can get the raw pointer to and read into your data type. See the msg data types page for more information.

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is there any difference between int8[28] and what I suggested with int64[4] other than less wasted space?

mohthepro gravatar image mohthepro  ( 2018-07-26 10:05:29 -0500 )edit

In some ways no. In fact they will probably take exactly the same space in memory due to the way compilers work. However semantically int64 implies a particular encoding that the data probably doesn't have whereas an array of bytes is the standard encoding of raw binary data.

PeteBlackerThe3rd gravatar image PeteBlackerThe3rd  ( 2018-07-26 17:18:23 -0500 )edit

So it's a convention really but your code will be more meaningful to other developers of you use a buffer of bytes.

PeteBlackerThe3rd gravatar image PeteBlackerThe3rd  ( 2018-07-26 17:20:23 -0500 )edit

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Asked: 2018-07-25 11:42:30 -0500

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Last updated: Jul 27 '18