RealSense Setup

Scope

This page is for Intel RealSense D435 / D435i deployment on Ubuntu 22.04 + ROS 2 Humble, including the repository-side d435i_test.launch.py validation flow.

Official references:

Register the APT Key

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -sSf https://librealsense.realsenseai.com/Debian/librealsenseai.asc | \
gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/librealsenseai.gpg > /dev/null

Install APT HTTPS Support

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https

Add the RealSense Repository

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/librealsenseai.gpg] https://librealsense.realsenseai.com/Debian/apt-repo `lsb_release -cs` main" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/librealsense.list

sudo apt-get update

Install Runtime Packages

sudo apt-get install -y librealsense2-dkms
sudo apt-get install -y librealsense2-utils

These packages install udev rules, kernel modules, runtime libraries, and tools such as realsense-viewer.

Optional Development Packages

sudo apt-get install -y librealsense2-dev
sudo apt-get install -y librealsense2-dbg

Install the ROS 2 Wrapper

This repository uses realsense2_camera from the ROS wrapper, so install it as well:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ros-$ROS_DISTRO-realsense2-*

On Humble, the equivalent explicit form is:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ros-humble-realsense2-*

Basic Validation

Reconnect the camera, then run:

realsense-viewer

Then verify the kernel module:

modinfo uvcvideo | grep "version:"

The output should include the realsense string.

Repository-Side Validation

cd ~/venom_ws
source install/setup.bash
ros2 launch venom_bringup d435i_test.launch.py

This launch currently uses:

namespace: camera
camera name: d435i
depth profile: 640x480x30
color, depth, gyro, accel enabled
point cloud enabled
RViz enabled by default

Common Checks

realsense-viewer: command not found librealsense2-utils is usually missing.
Package 'realsense2_camera' not found The ROS 2 wrapper has not been installed yet.
modinfo uvcvideo does not include realsense librealsense2-dkms likely did not activate correctly. Reinstall it, reconnect the camera, and reboot if needed.