micro-ROS / micro-ROS/micro_ros_platformio

Deserialization errors and eventual micro-ROS agent crash with best-effort publishers.

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#167 6 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Python
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Description

## Issue template

- Hardware description: Arduino Portenta H7
- RTOS: Mbed OS
- Installation type: PlatformIO
- Version or commit hash: Galactic, Humble (I've tried both)

#### Steps to reproduce the issue
I am running micro-ROS on an Arduino Portenta H7, communicating via UDP with a computer running ROS2. I've been testing with both Galactic and Humble (two different systems, one running Ubuntu 20 and the other 22).

I have four publishers in micro-ROS, each publishing a custom message (containing a builtin_interfaces/Time, a uint8, and two float32s) at 100 Hz using best effort QoS. I also have one publisher publishing a custom message (a builtin_interfaces/Time, and a uint8) at 1 Hz.

After the micro-ROS agent is started, communication works for some time, but deserialization errors start to appear, mostly:

```
[1736739981.033497] error | InputMessage.cpp | log_error | deserialization error | buffer:
0000: 00 00 00 00 00 00
```

and occasionally:

```
[1734728823.613239] error | InputMessage.cpp | log_error | deserialization error | buffer:
0000: 81 01 49 12 07 01 1F 00 12 AD 00 A5 3E ED 65 67 D3 90 66 22 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
[1734728823.615098] error | Processor.cpp | process_write_data_submessage | deserialization error processing WRITE_DATA submessage | client_key: 0x16BCCD79
```

Messages continue to publish successfully at around 100 Hz, but eventually the micro-ROS agent crashes with the following message:

```
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'eprosima::fastcdr::exception::BadParamException'
what(): Unexpected byte value in Cdr::deserialize(bool), expected 0 or 1
```

Sometimes it takes a while to crash, and other times it only takes a few minutes. I've also tried publishing with reliable QoS. In that case, the micro-ROS agent doesn't crash or have deserialization errors (at least not as quickly), but each topic is only published at about 1 Hz.

#### Expected behavior
The micro-ROS agent runs indefinitely with no deserialization errors and doesn't crash.

#### Actual behavior
Deserialization errors and crash.

Thanks!

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reproducing the issue with the Arduino Portenta H7, micro-ROS agent, UDP transport, custom messages, and best-effort publishers at the stated rates. Inspect the deserialization paths reported in InputMessage.cpp and Processor.cpp, including the Fast CDR BadParamException. Done means the agent runs indefinitely without deserialization errors or a crash while publishers continue at the expected rates.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
arduino
Domain
embedded-iot, networking
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
38/100

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