LiDAR Setup

Install Livox-SDK2¶

cd ~
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y cmake git
git clone https://github.com/Livox-SDK/Livox-SDK2.git
cd Livox-SDK2
mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

Verify the Installation¶

ldconfig -p | grep LivoxSdkCore is not a reliable check for the current Livox-SDK2 installation. Check the library files that livox_ros_driver2 actually links against:

ls /usr/local/lib/liblivox_lidar_sdk_shared.so
ls /usr/local/lib/liblivox_lidar_sdk_static.a

If liblivox_lidar_sdk_shared.so exists, the key runtime library required by the ROS 2 driver is installed.

Remove an Old Livox-SDK2 Installation¶

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/liblivox_lidar_sdk_*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/livox_lidar_*

Prepare `livox_ros_driver2`¶

Before building the workspace:

cp ~/venom_ws/src/venom_vnv/driver/livox_ros_driver2/package_ROS2.xml \
   ~/venom_ws/src/venom_vnv/driver/livox_ros_driver2/package.xml

Useful `livox_ros_driver2` Commands¶

The standard Venom VNV build still uses the root workspace colcon build command from Quick Start. The upstream livox_ros_driver2 README also provides a standalone build script for driver-only checks:

cd ~/venom_ws/src/venom_vnv/driver/livox_ros_driver2
source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
./build.sh humble

This script cleans ~/venom_ws/build, ~/venom_ws/install, and related build directories. For normal full-workspace builds, keep using the main repository build command.

The upstream ROS 2 launch format is:

cd ~/venom_ws
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch livox_ros_driver2 <launch_file>

Useful MID360 launch files:

Command	Purpose
`ros2 launch livox_ros_driver2 rviz_MID360_launch.py`	Connect to MID360, publish PointCloud2 data, and open RViz
`ros2 launch livox_ros_driver2 msg_MID360_launch.py`	Connect to MID360 and publish Livox custom point cloud messages

If the driver reports cannot open shared object file, add /usr/local/lib in the current terminal:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:/usr/local/lib

Configure a Static NIC IP¶

Recommended static NIC settings for a MID360 link:

Host NIC IP: 192.168.1.50
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1

The MID360 usually stays in the same subnet. Keep Wi-Fi online if you also need SSH or remote desktop at the same time.

Configure LiDAR Route Priority¶

When the computer uses both Wi-Fi and the wired LiDAR NIC, Linux may add a full 192.168.1.0/24 route to the wired NIC. For field debugging, remove that full subnet route and add a host route only for the actual MID360 IP.

Check the current route table first:

ip route

Find the wired NIC route for the LiDAR subnet. It usually looks like:

192.168.1.0/24 dev enp3s0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.50 metric 100

Do not copy the example commands blindly. The NIC name, host IP, metric, and LiDAR IP can differ on every machine. Copy the NIC name from your own ip route output and replace the LiDAR IP with the actual one.

Delete the full subnet route on the wired NIC:

sudo ip route del 192.168.1.0/24 dev enp3s0

Then add a host route to the LiDAR only. This example uses LiDAR IP 192.168.1.133, host wired IP 192.168.1.50, and NIC enp3s0:

sudo ip route add 192.168.1.133/32 dev enp3s0 src 192.168.1.50 metric 100

Verify that LiDAR traffic uses the wired NIC:

ip route get 192.168.1.133
ping 192.168.1.133

If the route should be restored after every reboot, put the delete and add commands into rc.local.

Update the MID360 Config File¶

Edit:

~/venom_ws/src/venom_vnv/driver/livox_ros_driver2/config/MID360_config.json

Key fields to check:

"cmd_data_ip": "192.168.1.50",
"push_msg_ip": "192.168.1.50",
"lidar_ip": "192.168.1.133"

cmd_data_ip and push_msg_ip should match your host NIC IP
lidar_ip must match the actual MID360 IP on your setup

Validate the LiDAR Link¶

First test the network:

ping 192.168.1.133

Then launch a basic validation flow:

cd ~/venom_ws
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch livox_ros_driver2 rviz_MID360_launch.py

Next Step¶

If you also need boot-time routing, network priority, or automatic startup behavior, continue with rc.local.