DeepRacer Systems Package

Overview

The DeepRacer Systems ROS package creates the software_update_node, model_loader_node, otg_control_node, network_monitor_node which are part of the core AWS DeepRacer application and will be launched from the deepracer_launcher. More details about the application and the components can be found here.

These nodes are responsible for managing some system level functionalities required in the DeepRacer application.

software_update_node

This node is responsible for managing the update system for DeepRacer packages. It provides services and functions to check for software update, execute software update, provide status of the current software update state and installation state, install signed packages from USB drive.

model_loader_node

This node is responsible for managing DeepRacer reinforcement learning models in the /opt/aws/deepracer/artifacts folder on the DeepRacer device. It provides services and functions to load tar.gz files with model from usb, extract tar.gz files with model uploaded in the console, list models in /opt/aws/deepracer/artifacts folder, verify model readiness through checksum file check and delete models through console.

otg_control_node

This node is responsible responsible to check for the micro-USB connection and enable/disable ethernet-over-USB feature whenever there is a connection change. It provides services and functions to execute scripts to initialize, enable, disable ethernet-over-USB feature and find out about current the micro-USB cable connection status.

network_monitor_node

This node is is responsible to monitor and manage network connection to the device. It provides services and functions to connect to Wi-Fi based on the content of the Wi-Fi configuration file read from usb, report the status of the connection attempt back in the device status file created on the USB when updating Wi-Fi configuration, manage the status LED light to indicate the network connection status and broadcast the network connection status as a message.

License

The source code is released under Apache 2.0 (https://aws.amazon.com/apache-2-0/).

Installation

Prerequisites

The DeepRacer device comes with all the pre-requisite packages and libraries installed to run the deepracer_systems_pkg. More details about pre installed set of packages and libraries on the DeepRacer, and installing required build systems can be found in the Getting Started section of the AWS DeepRacer Opensource page.

The deepracer_systems_pkg specifically depends on the following ROS2 packages as build and execute dependencies:

1. deepracer_interfaces_pkg - This packages contains the custom message and service type definitions used across the AWS DeepRacer core application.
2. status_led_pkg - The DeepRacer Status LED ROS package creates the status_led_node which ** is part of the core AWS DeepRacer application.
3. usb_monitor_pkg - The DeepRacer USB Monitor ROS package creates the usb_monitor_node which ** is part of the core AWS DeepRacer application.

Downloading and Building

Open up a terminal on the DeepRacer device and run the following commands as root user.

1. Switch to root user before you source the ROS2 installation:

    sudo su
   

2. Source the ROS2 Foxy setup bash script:

    source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash 
   

3. Set the environment variables required to run Intel OpenVino scripts:

    source /opt/intel/openvino_2021/bin/setupvars.sh
   

4. Create a workspace directory for the package:

    mkdir -p ~/deepracer_ws
    cd ~/deepracer_ws
   

5. Clone the deepracer_systems_pkg on the DeepRacer device:

    git clone https://github.com/aws-deepracer/aws-deepracer-systems-pkg.git
   

6. Fetch unreleased dependencies:

    cd ~/deepracer_ws/aws-deepracer-systems-pkg
    rosws update
   

7. Resolve the deepracer_systems_pkg dependencies:

    cd ~/deepracer_ws/aws-deepracer-systems-pkg && rosdep install -i --from-path . --rosdistro foxy -y
   

8. Build the deepracer_systems_pkg, status_led_pkg, usb_monitor_pkg and deepracer_interfaces_pkg:

    cd ~/deepracer_ws/aws-deepracer-systems-pkg && colcon build --packages-select deepracer_systems_pkg status_led_pkg usb_monitor_pkg deepracer_interfaces_pkg
   

Usage

These nodes provide basic system level functionality for the AWS DeepRacer application to work. Although the nodes is built to work with the AWS DeepRacer application, it can be run independently for development/testing/debugging purposes.

Run the node

To launch the built nodes as root user on the DeepRacer device open up another terminal on the DeepRacer device and run the following commands as root user:

1. Switch to root user before you source the ROS2 installation:

    sudo su
   

2. Source the ROS2 Foxy setup bash script:

    source /opt/ros/foxy/setup.bash 
   

3. Source the setup script for the installed packages:

    source ~/deepracer_ws/aws-deepracer-systems-pkg/install/setup.bash
   

4. Launch the nodes using the launch script:

    ros2 launch deepracer_systems_pkg deepracer_systems_pkg_launch.py
   

Launch Files

The deepracer_systems_pkg_launch.py is also included in this package that gives an example of how to launch the nodes independently from the core application.

from launch import LaunchDescription
from launch_ros.actions import Node

def generate_launch_description():
    return LaunchDescription([
        Node(
            package='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            namespace='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            executable='software_update_node',
            name='software_update_node'
        ),
        Node(
            package='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            namespace='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            executable='model_loader_node',
            name='model_loader_node'
        ),
        Node(
            package='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            namespace='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            executable='otg_control_node',
            name='otg_control_node'
        ),
        Node(
            package='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            namespace='deepracer_systems_pkg',
            executable='network_monitor_node',
            name='network_monitor_node'
        )
    ])

Node Details

software_update_node

Subscribed Topics

Published Topics

Service Clients

Services

model_loader_node

Subscribed Topics

Service Clients

Services

network_monitor_node

Subscribed Topics

Published Topics

Service Clients

Resources

• AWS DeepRacer Opensource getting started: https://github.com/aws-deepracer/aws-deepracer-launcher/blob/main/getting-started.md