Smac Planner

Source code and README with design, explanations, and metrics can be found on Github.

The Smac Planner plugin implements a 2D A* and Hybrid-A* path planners. An example of the Hyrid-A* planner can be seen below, planning a 85 meter path in 33ms.

Path generated by the Hybrid-A* planner

<name> is the corresponding planner plugin ID selected for this type.

Parameters

<name>.tolerance:
 
Type Default
double 0.5
Description

Tolerance in meters between requested goal pose and end of path.
<name>.downsample_costmap:
 
Type Default
bool False
Description

Whether to downsample costmap to another resolution for search.
<name>.downsampling_factor:
 
Type Default
int 1
Description

Multiplier factor to downsample costmap by (e.g. if 5cm costmap at 2 downsample_factor, 10cm output).
<name>.allow_unknown:
 
Type Default
bool True
Description

Whether to allow traversing/search in unknown space.
<name>.max_iterations:
 
Type Default
int -1
Description

Maximum number of search iterations before failing to limit compute time, disabled by -1.
<name>.max_on_approach_iterations:
 
Type Default
int 1000
Description

Maximum number of iterations after the search is within tolerance before returning approximate path with best heuristic if exact path not found.
<name>.max_planning_time_ms:
 
Type Default
double 5000.0
Description

Maximum planning time in ms.
<name>.analytic_expansion_ratio:
 
Type Default
double 2.0
Description

SE2 node will attempt to complete an analytic expansions proportional to this value and the minimum heuristic.
<name>.smooth_path:
 
Type Default
bool False
Description

Whether to smooth path with CG smoother.
<name>.motion_model_for_search:
 
Type Default
string “DUBIN”
Description

Motion model enum string to search with. For SE2 node, default is “DUBIN”. For 2D it is “MOORE”. Options for SE2 are DUBIN or REEDS_SHEPP. Options for 2D is MOORE and VON_NEUMANN.
<name>.angle_quantization_bins:
 
Type Default
int 1
Description

Number of angular bins to use for SE2 search. For 2D this must be 1, for SE2 it can be any number, but a good baseline is 72 (for 5 degree increments).
<name>.minimum_turning_radius:
 
Type Default
double 0.2
Description

Minimum turning radius in meters of vehicle. Also used in the smoother to compute maximum curvature.
<name>.reverse_penalty:
 
Type Default
double 2.0
Description

Heuristic penalty to apply to SE2 node if searching in reverse direction. Only used in REEDS_SHEPP motion model.
<name>.change_penalty:
 
Type Default
double 0.5
Description

Heuristic penalty to apply to SE2 node if changing direction in search.
<name>.non_straight_penalty:
 
Type Default
double 1.05
Description

Heuristic penalty to apply to SE2 node if searching in non-straight direction.
<name>.cost_penalty:
 
Type Default
double 1.2
Description

Heuristic penalty to apply to SE2 node for cost at pose. Allows Hybrid-A* to be cost aware.
<name>.smoother.smoother.w_curve:
 
Type Default
double 1.5
Description

CG smoother cost function weight on the curvature of path.
<name>.smoother.smoother.w_dist:
 
Type Default
double 0.0
Description

CG smoother cost function weight on the distance from the original path. Disabled by default.
<name>.smoother.smoother.w_smooth:
 
Type Default
double 15000.0
Description

CG smoother cost function weight on the distance between nodes.
<name>.smoother.smoother.w_cost:
 
Type Default
double 1.5
Description

CG smoother cost function weight on the costmap’s cost.
<name>.smoother.smoother.cost_scaling_factor:
 
Type Default
double 10.0
Description

Scale factor for the inflation layer. Must be the same as your inflation layer’s value. Used to approximate a Voronoi field.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.max_time:
 
Type Default
double 0.10
Description

Maximum time spent smoothing, in seconds. If planning takes too long, this can be dynamically adjusted to ensure the planner meets max_planning_time_ms.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.max_iterations:
 
Type Default
int 500
Description

Maximum number of iterations we can run the CG smoother.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.debug_optimizer:
 
Type Default
bool False
Description

Whether to print debug info from Ceres.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.gradient_tol:
 
Type Default
double 1e-10
Description

Minimum change in gradient to terminate smoothing.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.fn_tol:
 
Type Default
double 1e-7
Description

Minimum change in function to terminate smoothing.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.param_tol:
 
Type Default
double 1e-15
Description

Minimum change in parameter blocks to terminate smoothing.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.advanced.min_line_search_step_size:
 
Type Default
double 1e-20
Description

Terminate smoothing iteration if change in parameter block less than this.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.advanced.max_num_line_search_step_size_iterations:
 
Type Default
int 50
Description

Maximum iterations for line search in CG smoother.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.advanced.line_search_sufficient_function_decrease:
 
Type Default
double 1e-20
Description

Function decrease amount to terminate current line search iteration.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.advanced.max_num_line_search_direction_restarts:
 
Type Default
int 10
Description

Maximum umber of restarts of line search when over-shoots.
<name>.smoother.optimizer.advanced.max_line_search_step_expansion:
 
Type Default
int 50
Description

Step size multiplier at each iteration of line search.

Example

planner_server:
  ros__parameters:
    planner_plugins: ["GridBased"]
    use_sim_time: True

    GridBased:
      plugin: "smac_planner/SmacPlanner"
      tolerance: 0.5                    # tolerance for planning if unable to reach exact pose, in meters, for 2D node
      downsample_costmap: false         # whether or not to downsample the map
      downsampling_factor: 1            # multiplier for the resolution of the costmap layer (e.g. 2 on a 5cm costmap would be 10cm)
      allow_unknown: false              # allow traveling in unknown space
      max_iterations: -1                # maximum total iterations to search for before failing
      max_on_approach_iterations: 1000  # maximum number of iterations to attempt to reach goal once in tolerance, 2D only
      max_planning_time_ms: 2000.0      # max time in ms for planner to plan, smooth, and upsample. Will scale maximum smoothing and upsampling times based on remaining time after planning.
      smooth_path: false                # Whether to smooth searched path
      motion_model_for_search: "DUBIN"  # 2D Moore, Von Neumann; SE2 Dubin, Redds-Shepp
      angle_quantization_bins: 72       # For SE2 node: Number of angle bins for search, must be 1 for 2D node (no angle search)
      minimum_turning_radius: 0.20      # For SE2 node & smoother: minimum turning radius in m of path / vehicle
      reverse_penalty: 2.1              # For Reeds-Shepp model: penalty to apply if motion is reversing, must be => 1
      change_penalty: 0.20              # For SE2 node: penalty to apply if motion is changing directions, must be >= 0
      non_straight_penalty: 1.05        # For SE2 node: penalty to apply if motion is non-straight, must be => 1
      cost_penalty: 1.3                 # For SE2 node: penalty to apply to higher cost zones

      smoother:
        smoother:
          w_curve: 30.0                 # weight to minimize curvature of path
          w_dist: 0.0                   # weight to bind path to original as optional replacement for cost weight
          w_smooth: 30000.0             # weight to maximize smoothness of path
          w_cost: 0.025                 # weight to steer robot away from collision and cost
          cost_scaling_factor: 10.0     # this should match the inflation layer's parameter

        # I do not recommend users mess with this unless they're doing production tuning
        optimizer:
          max_time: 0.10                # maximum compute time for smoother
          max_iterations: 500           # max iterations of smoother
          debug_optimizer: false        # print debug info
          gradient_tol: 1.0e-10
          fn_tol: 1.0e-20
          param_tol: 1.0e-15
          advanced:
            min_line_search_step_size: 1.0e-20
            max_num_line_search_step_size_iterations: 50
            line_search_sufficient_function_decrease: 1.0e-20
            max_num_line_search_direction_restarts: 10
            max_line_search_step_expansion: 50