Project Structure Overview

The system is organized into a set of headers and source files responsible for mathematical optimization and ROS integration:

• min_snap_optimizer.h: Defines the MinSnapOptimizer class, which exposes the calculateClosedFormCoeffs() method to compute the polynomial coefficients for the trajectory segments via Quadratic Programming.
• min_snap_optimizer.cpp: Implements the closed-form QP solver. The primary output is the coeff_matrix, containing the solved polynomial parameters which can be printed to the console or broadcasted.
• trajectory_manager.h: Declares the TrajectoryManager class, encapsulating utilities for processing coefficients, path computation, and ROS topic publishing. Its methods include retrieveCoefficients(), generatePath(), broadcastTrajectory(), fetchParameters(), and evaluatePolyPosition().
• trajectory_manager.cpp: Contains the implementation of broadcastTrajectory() for transmitting the generated path over ROS networks.
• main_entry.cpp: Initializes the ROS node, instantiates the manager, and initiates the topic publication loop.

Execution and Environment Setup

Clone the repository and attempt the initial build:

cd traj_opt_workspace
catkin_make

If the compiler fails due to missing Eigen/Dense, install the linear algebra library:

sudo apt-get install libeigen3-dev

Post-installation, the system typically places headers under /usr/include/eigen3. Because the build system expects direct access to Eigen and unsupported directories, create symbolic links to resolve the path discrepancy. Verify the installation directory before executing:

cd /usr/include
sudo ln -sf eigen3/Eigen Eigen
sudo ln -sf eigen3/unsupported unsupported

Re-run the build process to compile successfully. Trajectory constraints, including waypoint coordinates and segment durations, are defined within the config.yaml file.

Launch the optimization node using the following command:

roslaunch min_snap_planner start_planner.launch

To inspect the output data stream, monitor the dedicated ROS topic:

rostopic echo /optimized_trajectory