Set up real-time connections
Teleoperation and real-time displays and controls are driven by real-time connections with your device. Before you can design a functional real-time or teleoperation interface, you'll have to configure these connections.
This guide will teach you how to configure real-time connections with your device for real-time observability and teleoperation.
Prerequisite: Create a device
Before you can configure a device's real-time connections, you must first add it to Formant. For more information, see Create a device.
Step 1: Navigate to real-time connections settings
- In Formant, in the upper-left corner, open the menu and click on the device you want to configure.
- In the upper-right corner, click the three dots >> Configure device.
- Click on the Real-time Connections tab.
Step 2: Set up real-time connections
Add real-time connections to the data sources you want to receive from, or send to, your robot.
ConnectionfieldFor all real-time connections, the
Connectionfield is the user-friendly label for that particular connection.
The following connections can be made:
Real-time connection | Description | Available connection types |
|---|---|---|
Video/image | Image or video stream with optional encoding. See below for a description of video encoding settings. | API, ROS topic, hardware |
Twist | For joystick control. | API, ROS topic |
Boolean to device | For button control from teleoperation UI to device. | API, ROS topic |
Bitset | Real-time bitset stream. | API |
Numeric | Real-time numeric stream. | API, ROS topic |
JSON string | Real-time JSON stream. | API |
Text from device | Real-time text stream from your device to the teleoperation interface. | API, ROS topic |
Text to device | Real-time text stream from the teleoperation interface to your device. | API, ROS topic |
Map | Not currently used. | API, ROS topic |
Location | Real-time GPS stream. | API, ROS topic |
Numeric set | Real-time numeric set stream. | API |
Video encoding settings
The following properites are available for configuration for image and video streams:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| ROS version | The ROS version of the node publishing the topic. |
Enable encoding (CompressedImage topics only) | If set to YES, Formant will encode the incoming image stream to H.264. Image streams are encoded to H.264 by default. |
| Video quality (encoded streams only) | Choose the resolution of the encoded video stream. Higher video quality will use more data. |
| Bitrate | Desired bitrate of your video stream. If left blank, the agent will automatically determine the ideal bitrate for the selected video quality. |
| Disable adaptive quality | If disabled, Formant will keep the video quality consistent throughout poor network conditions. |
| Clock Overlay | If set to YES, Formant will overlay a clock in the lower-right corner of your video stream. |
Video encoding in detailFor a deeper dive on video encoding, and a discussion of the relationship between bitrate, quality, and performance, see Video encoding with the Formant agent.
Once you've configured your real-time connections, click Save to apply your changes.
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Updated 12 days ago