ousterFileReader

Read point cloud data from Ouster PCAP file

Since R2022a

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Description

The ousterFileReader object reads point cloud data from an Ouster® packet capture (PCAP) file.

Creation

Syntax

ousterReader = ousterFileReader(fileName,calibrationFile)
ousterReader = ousterFileReader(fileName,calibrationFile,Name=Value)

Description

ousterReader = ousterFileReader(fileName,calibrationFile) creates an ousterFileReader object that reads point cloud data from an Ouster PCAP file. Specify the PCAP file fileName and the calibration file calibrationFile. The inputs set the FileName and CalibrationFile properties, respectively.

For information on supported Ouster sensor models, see DeviceModel property.

example

ousterReader = ousterFileReader(fileName,calibrationFile,Name=Value) specify SkipPartialFrames and CoordinateFrame properties using one or more name-value arguments. For example, ousterFileReader(fileName,calibrationFile,SkipPartialFrames=0) creates an Ouster file reader that does not skip partial frames.

Properties

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This property is read-only.

Name of the Ouster PCAP file, specified as a character vector or string scalar.

This property is read-only.

Partial frame processing, specified as a logical 1 (true) or 0 (false). To skip partial frames, defined as frames with a horizontal field of view less than the mean horizontal field of view of all frames in the PCAP file, specify this property as true. Otherwise, specify it as false.

To set this property, you must specify it at object creation.

Example: SkipPartialFrames=true skips partial frames in the PCAP file.

This property is read-only.

PCAP file contains IMU data, stored as a logical 1 (true) or 0 (false).

Data Types: logical

This property is read-only.

Coordinate frame for point cloud data, specified as one of these options.

  • "center" — Origin of the coordinate frame is at the center of the sensor.

  • "base" — Origin of the coordinate frame is at the base of the sensor.

To set this property, you must specify it at object creation.

Example: CoordinateFrame="center" sets the origin of the coordinate frame at the center of the sensor.

Data Types: char | string

This property is read-only.

Name of the device model, stored as a character vector. The object supports these device models:

  • OS1-16

  • OS0-32

  • OS1-32

  • OS2-32

  • OS Dome-32 (since R2025a)

  • OS0-64

  • OS1-64

  • OS2-64

  • OS Dome-64 (since R2025a)

  • OS0-128

  • OS1-128

  • OS2-128

  • OS Dome-128 (since R2025a)

This property is read-only.

Name of the Ouster calibration JSON file, specified as a character vector or string scalar.

Note

Specifying the incorrect calibration file returns no frames or an improperly calibrated point cloud.

This property is read-only.

Mode of the lidar sensor, specified as a character vector. The mode defines the horizontal resolution and rotation frequency of the lidar sensor.

This property is read-only.

Return modes of the point cloud data stored in the file, specified as {'strongest'}, {'farthest'}, {'strongest','weakest'}, {'farthest','nearest'}, or {'nearest','farthest'}.

This property is read-only.

Firmware version of the Ouster sensor, stored as a character vector. For more information on supported firmware versions, see Release-by-Release Version Support.

This property is read-only.

Lidar data packet format in the file, stored as one of these values.

  • 'LEGACY' — Legacy data packet format.

  • 'RNG19_RFL8_SIG16_NIR16' — Single return profile that is similar to the channel data block present in the LEGACY format.

  • 'RNG19_RFL8_SIG16_NIR16_DUAL'— Dual return profile that enables the sensor to output up to lidar returns.

  • 'RNG15_RFL8_NIR8' — Single return profile with low data rate and small data packet size.

  • 'FUSA_RNG15_RFL8_NIR8_DUAL' — Dual return profile with low data rate and small data packet size. (since R2025a)

For more information on the data profiles, see the Sensor Data section in the Ouster Firmware User Manual.

This property is read-only.

Total number of point cloud frames in the file, specified as a positive integer.

This property is read-only.

Total duration of the file, specified as a duration scalar in seconds.

This property is read-only.

Time of the first point cloud reading, specified as a duration scalar in seconds.

This property is read-only.

Time of the final point cloud reading, specified as a duration scalar in seconds.

Time of the current point cloud reading, specified as a duration scalar in seconds. As you read point clouds using readFrame, this property updates with the most recent point cloud reading time. You can use reset to reset the value of this property to the default value. The default value matches the StartTime property.

This property is read-only.

Start time for each point cloud frame, specified as a duration vector with values in seconds. The length of the vector is equal to the value of the NumberOfFrames property. The value of the first element in the vector is same as the value of the StartTime property. You can use this property to read point cloud frames captured at different times.

Object Functions

hasFrameDetermine if another Ouster point cloud is available
readFrameRead Ouster point cloud from file
resetReset ousterFileReader object to first frame
readIMURead IMU data from Ouster PCAP file

Examples

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Open Live Script

Download a ZIP file containing an Ouster packet capture (PCAP) file and the corresponding calibration file, and then unzip the file.

zipFile = matlab.internal.examples.downloadSupportFile("lidar","data/ouster_RoadIntersection.zip");
saveFolder = fileparts(zipFile);
pcapFileName = [saveFolder filesep 'ouster_RoadIntersection' filesep 'ouster_RoadIntersection.pcap'];
calibFileName = [saveFolder filesep 'ouster_RoadIntersection' filesep 'OS1-128U.json'];
if ~(exist(pcapFileName,"file") && exist(calibFileName,"file"))
    unzip(zipFile,saveFolder);
end

Create an ousterFileReader object.

ousterReader = ousterFileReader(pcapFileName,calibFileName);

Define X-, Y-, and Z-axes limits for pcplayer, in meters.

xlimits = [-60 60];
ylimits = [-60 60];
zlimits = [-20 20];

Create a point cloud player.

player = pcplayer(xlimits,ylimits,zlimits);

Set labels for the pcplayer axes.

xlabel(player.Axes,"X (m)");
ylabel(player.Axes,"Y (m)");
zlabel(player.Axes,"Z (m)");

Specify the CurrentTime of the Ouster file reader so that it starts reading from 0.3 seconds after the start time.

ousterReader.CurrentTime = ousterReader.StartTime + seconds(0.3);

Display the stream of point clouds from CurrentTime to the final point cloud.

while(hasFrame(ousterReader) && player.isOpen())
    ptCloud = readFrame(ousterReader);
    view(player,ptCloud);
end

Figure Point Cloud Player contains an axes object. The axes object with xlabel X (m), ylabel Y (m) contains an object of type scatter.

Tips

Release-by-Release Version Support

ReleaseSupported Firmware Versions
R2022a

Support added for:

  • 2.0

  • 2.1

R2023a

Support added for:

  • 2.2

  • 2.3

R2023b

Support added for:

  • 2.4

R2024a

Support added for:

  • 2.5

  • 3.0

R2025a

Support added for:

  • 3.1

Version History

Introduced in R2022a

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See Also

Functions

Objects

Topics

External Websites