VELODYNE Lidar Setup

Setup guide to connect VELODYNE Lidar sensoe to your computer

Hardware Setup

1.  The LIDAR sensor is mounted atop a stand. Find a stand for the LIDAR, it should look something like this:
   • You might notice the stand has weights added to it. This is done in order to stabalize the LIDAR sensor, since when it is operating the sensors inside spin fast and may cause the sensor to move the stand, and itself. The sensorneeds to be stable when operating.
2. Now for the LIDAR components. They are stored inside their box. There are handles on both sides of the box, with push in buttons. Press them both in, pull the handles outward and open the box.                                                       
3. There are 4 components in the box:
   1. LIDAR sensor (connected to its output board)
   2. Power Supply
   3. Power Cord
   4. Ethernet Cable
      • 
4. Closeup of LIDAR sensor and the board connected to it:

   

5. Mount the LIDAR sensor on the stand by screwing it in. Before doing so, you might notice that there is some material on top of the stand (usually small pieces of paper). This is to stabilize the LIDAR sensor so it won’t shake while its operating. It is placed underneath the LIDAR sensor.
6. Take the screw (usually left on top of stand) and screw the LIDAR sensor in from the bottom:  
   • Be careful when handling the LIDAR, it is an expensive piece of equipment. Please handle with care when mounting it on the stand.  Turn the screw in anti-clockwise. You may use a wrench to tighten the screw.
7. Connect the power supply to the LIDAR board
8. Connect the Ethernet cable to the LIDAR board and your computer. You might need to disconnect your computer from the currently connected Ethernet cable (which means you will need wifi to access the internet, unless your pc has more than one Ethernet port)
9. Power on the LIDAR by connecting your power supply to a power source using the power cable
   • Doing so will power on your LIDAR sensor. You will hear it start spinning a few seconds after you power it on.

Software Setup

1. Download Veloview if it is not already installed (to check, press Start then type in VeloView). Scroll to the bottom of the page and pick the version that fits your operating system. It is most likely Windows 64 bit. VeloView performs real-time visualization and processing of live captured 3D LiDAR data from Velodyne’s HDL sensors.
2. Install Veloview.

VeloView Basics

View real time data

1. Open VeloView.
2. Click on File > Open > Sensor Stream
3. Select VLP-16. This is correct for the current sensor we have.
4. The sensor will start streaming live data and you should start seeing real time visualization of it on your screen.

Record

1. Click on the Record button (red button on toolbar)
2. Choose location to save file.
3. VeloView will start recording. Take into consideration that recording takes up quite a bit of space, since it has a lot of data to record.