LiDAR driver - ADOS Documentation

A LidarDriver yields point-cloud frames from a spinning, solid-state, or single-line ranging device.

The interface

from ados.sdk.drivers.lidar import (
    LidarDriver,
    LidarCandidate,
    LidarCapabilities,
    LidarSession,
    LidarFrame,
    LidarPoint,
)

class MyLidarDriver(LidarDriver):
    async def discover(self) -> list[LidarCandidate]:
        ...

    async def open(self, candidate, config) -> LidarSession:
        ...

    async def close(self, session) -> None:
        ...

    def capabilities(self, session) -> LidarCapabilities:
        ...

    async def frame_iterator(self, session):
        # async generator yielding LidarFrame
        ...

    async def set_param(self, session, param, value) -> None:
        # rpm, scan rate, filter mode
        ...

Writing the agent half in Rust? The trait equivalent is ados_sdk::drivers::LidarDriver (re-exported from the drivers module of the ados-sdk crate). It carries the same six methods (discover, open, close, capabilities, frame_iterator, set_param) over an async-trait, with LidarCandidate, LidarCapabilities, LidarFrame, and LidarPoint as the matching types. LidarFrame holds timestamp_ns, sequence, a points vector, and free-form metadata. Set runtime: rust in the manifest and the host treats the driver the same way it treats the Python one.

Capabilities

LidarCapabilities(
    min_range_m=0.1,
    max_range_m=40.0,
    horizontal_fov_deg=360.0,
    vertical_fov_deg=1.0,
    points_per_frame=1024,
    fps=10.0,
    has_intensity=True,
    has_dual_return=False,
)

Frames

Each LidarFrame carries a list of LidarPoint in the sensor body frame: +x forward, +y left, +z up. Coordinates are metres.

LidarPoint(
    x=2.13, y=-0.42, z=0.05,
    intensity=0.74,
    return_index=0,
)

Drivers that report misses for some angles should skip those points rather than emit zeros.

Manifest permissions

agent:
  permissions:
    - id: sensor.lidar.register
    - id: hardware.uart        # most LiDARs are USB-CDC or UART
    - id: hardware.usb         # for a raw USB device behind a vendor SDK

Single-line vs spinning

The agent does not distinguish single-beam rangefinders from full 3D LiDARs at the driver layer. A 1D rangefinder ships frames with points_per_frame=1. The host’s avoidance and SLAM consumers already handle the degenerate case.

​The interface

​Capabilities

​Frames

​Manifest permissions

​Single-line vs spinning

​See also

The interface

Capabilities

Frames

Manifest permissions

Single-line vs spinning

See also