ros2_imu_serial - A ROS2 Package to read 6-DOF IMU data

Navneeth Mahadevan

2025-12-12 2025-12-12 339 words 2 minutes

This project arose as a solution to obtain raw data from IMUs like MPU6050 (which has been used for this project) and implement custom filters like Madgwick Filters to obtain filtered angles to compute Euler angles. Hopefully this solves the lack of USB-serial based solutions for IMUs in ROS2, as most currently working solutions use I2C or UART connections, not providing a standard way for USB-based approaches.

Features

Reads IMU data from a serial port
Publishes data as standard sensor_msgs/msg/Imu
Configurable serial port and baud rate
Lightweight and easy to integrate into existing ROS 2 systems
Suitable for embedded IMUs, microcontroller-based sensors, and prototyping

📦 Package Overview

v This package provides:

A ROS 2 node that:
- Opens a serial connection to an IMU device
- Parses incoming sensor data
- Publishes orientation, angular velocity, linear acceleration, and Euler angles

🔧 Requirements

ROS 2 (tested with common distributions such as Humble / Iron)
Linux (recommended for serial device support)
IMU device that outputs serial data in a supported format
Access permissions to the serial device (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0)

📥 Installation

Clone the repository into your ROS 2 workspace:

mkdir -p ~/ros2_ws/src
cd ~/ros2_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/SlyPredator/ros2_imu_serial.git

Build the workspace:

cd ~/ros2_ws
colcon build --symlink-install
source install/setup.bash

Usage

Run the IMU serial node:

ros2 launch ros2_imu_serial imu_publisher.launch.py

📡 Published Topics

Topics published by this package include:

/imu/data_raw (sensor_msgs/msg/Imu)
/imu/euler (sensor_msgs/msg/Imu)

You can inspect the data using:

ros2 topic echo /imu/data_raw
ros2 topic echo /imu/euler

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description	Default
`serial_port`	string	Serial device path	`/dev/ttyUSB0`
`baudrate`	int	Serial communication baud rate	`115200`
`frame_id`	string	TF frame for the IMU data	`imu_link`
`publish_rate`	float	Rate of topic publishing in ROS2	`50`
`use_madgwick`	bool	Whether or not to apply Madgwick Filtering	`true`
`madgwick_beta`	float	Madgwick Filtering beta value	`0.1`
`publish_euler`	bool	Whether or not to publish Euler angles	`true`

Permissions

If you encounter permission errors accessing the serial port:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
newgrp dialout

Notes

IMU data format and parsing depend on your specific hardware
Sensor calibration may be required for accurate results