micro-ROS / micro-ROS/micro-ROS-Agent
Connectivity Drop with More Than 5 Devices in Micro-ROS Agent on Docker (Raspberry Pi 5)
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 201
- Forks
- 111
- Avg merge
- 1d 6h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 10
Description
**Description:**
I am running a micro-ROS agent in a Docker container using the prebuilt image (humble) on a Raspberry Pi 5. I have several ESP32 devices with micro-ROS (Humble). When I attempt to connect more than five devices to the agent, I experience connectivity dropouts, where some devices fail to stay connected. With 5 devices, they are successful in subscribing to topics.
I suspect this issue might be related to the configuration flags in the micro-ROS build, particularly those related to client and resource limits. I came across the following parameters:
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_CLIENTS`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_SUBSCRIPTIONS`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_SESSIONS`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_NODES`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_PUBLISHERS`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_SERVICES`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_WAIT_SETS`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_GUARD_CONDITION`
- `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_TOPICS`
These parameters seem critical to configuring the agent, especially as I'm dealing with multiple devices where each subscribes to three topics. I suspect increasing the `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_CLIENTS` value might help, but I'm not entirely sure.
**What I've Tried:**
- I attempted to experiment by manually setting `RMW_UXRCE_MAX_CLIENTS` to 1 (as a test), but it did not yield the expected results, as multiple clients could still connect.
- I've tried searching through the documentation, including [Vulcanexus](https://docs.vulcanexus.org/en/latest/rst/tutorials/micro/memory_management/memory_management.html#:~:text=RMW_UXRCE_MAX_NODES%20%3A%20Maximum%20number%20of%20micro,Default%20value%3A%204) for guidance, but I haven't been able to solve the issue.
**Question:**
In order to adjust these flags and rebuild the micro-ROS agent from source, do I need to modify the build configuration in the following file?
- [`src/micro_ros_setup/config/host/generic/client-host-colcon.meta`](https://github.com/micro-ROS/micro_ros_setup/blob/jazzy/config/host/generic/client-host-colcon.meta)
Or should the changes be made in this file instead?
- [`src/uros/rmw_microxrcedds/rmw_microxredds_c/CMakeLists.txt`](https://github.com/micro-ROS/rmw_microxrcedds/blob/jazzy/rmw_microxrcedds_c/CMakeLists.txt)
I believe the latter might be where the flags should be set, but I'm uncertain. Has anyone else experienced similar connectivity issues when connecting more than five devices to a micro-ROS agent on Docker? If so, how did you resolve it?
(I've also noticed a colcon.meta file in the /src folder of my workspace, should the be used?)
Any guidance on where exactly to set the flags for a manual source installation would be greatly appreciated - Or even the correct approach to setting up an agent to allow for more than 20 clients!
Thanks in advance for your help!
**System Details:**
- **Hardware:** Raspberry Pi 5
- **Docker Image:** Prebuilt micro-ROS agent
- **Micro-ROS Version:** Humble on ESP32 devices
- **Number of Devices:** 5+ ESP32 devices
- **Topics per Device:** 3 Topics per device
**Links to Documentation:**
- [Vulcanexus Documentation on Memory Management](https://docs.vulcanexus.org/en/latest/rst/tutorials/micro/memory_management/memory_management.html)
- [micro_ros_setup Repository](https://github.com/micro-ROS/micro_ros_setup/blob/jazzy/config/host/generic/client-host-colcon.meta)
- [rmw_microxrcedds Repository](https://github.com/micro-ROS/rmw_microxrcedds/blob/jazzy/rmw_microxrcedds_c/CMakeLists.txt)
Thank you!
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by comparing src/micro_ros_setup/config/host/generic/client-host-colcon.meta with src/uros/rmw_microxrcedds/rmw_microxrcedds_c/CMakeLists.txt and the workspace's /src/colcon.meta. Reproduce the dropout with more than five ESP32 devices while collecting agent and client logs. Done means the correct configuration path is established and a tested setup supports the intended client count without connectivity drops.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cmake, cpp, docker
- Domain
- devops, embedded-iot, networking
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 30/100