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Intel RealSense Integration Guide

Intel RealSense depth-camera integration for the Lectron PI5 Autopilot.
Board Lectron PI5 Autopilot
Camera Intel RealSense D456i Depth Camera
Middleware ROS 2 Jazzy
OS Ubuntu

Prerequisites

  • Intel RealSense D456i depth camera (or compatible RealSense model)
  • USB 3.0 Type-C to Type-C cable
  • Lectron PI5 Autopilot board
  • ROS 2 Jazzy (required only if using the ROS 2 wrapper)

Info

If you plan to use the ROS 2 wrapper, install ROS 2 Jazzy before proceeding. Follow the official installation guide.

Installation

RealSense SDK 2.0

Step 1 — Register the Repository Public Key

Create the keyring directory and download the signing key:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -sSf https://librealsense.realsenseai.com/Debian/librealsenseai.asc | \
  gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/librealsenseai.gpg > /dev/null

Step 2 — Add the Repository

Register the Intel RealSense APT repository and refresh the package index:

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/librealsenseai.gpg] \
  https://librealsense.realsenseai.com/Debian/apt-repo \
  $(lsb_release -cs) main" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/librealsense.list

sudo apt-get update

Step 3 — Install the SDK Libraries

Install the core utilities package (this will also configure udev rules automatically):

sudo apt-get install librealsense2-utils

Step 4 — Install Optional Packages

For development headers and debug symbols, install the following additional packages:

sudo apt-get install librealsense2-dev
sudo apt-get install librealsense2-dbg

RealSense ROS 2 Wrapper

Install the RealSense ROS 2 packages for the Jazzy distribution. This provides both the underlying library bindings and the camera node packages:

sudo apt install ros-jazzy-librealsense2*
sudo apt install ros-jazzy-realsense2*

Info

Replace jazzy with your ROS 2 distribution name if you are running a different version.

Quick Usage

Launching the Camera Node

Run the following command to start the RealSense camera node. This configuration enables stereo infrared streams, depth output, point cloud generation, and IMU data:

source /opt/ros/jazzy/setup.bash
ros2 run realsense2_camera realsense2_camera_node \
  --ros-args -r __ns:=/d456 \
  -r __node:=d456 \
  -p unite_imu_method:=2 \
  -p enable_infra1:=true \
  -p enable_infra2:=true \
  -p depth_module.infra_profile:=640x480x30 \
  -p depth_module.depth_profile:=640x480x30 \
  -p pointcloud.enable:=true \
  -p gyro_fps:=200 \
  -p accel_fps:=200

Parameter Reference

The table below summarises the key parameters used in the launch command:

Parameter Description
__ns:=/d456 Sets the ROS namespace for the node
__node:=d456 Assigns a custom node name
unite_imu_method:=2 Combines accelerometer and gyroscope data into a unified IMU topic using linear interpolation
enable_infra1 / enable_infra2 Enables left and right stereo infrared streams
depth_module.infra_profile Sets infrared stream resolution and frame rate (640×480 at 30 fps)
depth_module.depth_profile Sets depth stream resolution and frame rate (640×480 at 30 fps)
pointcloud.enable Enables 3D point cloud generation from the depth stream
gyro_fps / accel_fps Sets gyroscope and accelerometer sampling rates (200 Hz)

References

Consult the following resources for further information: