Help with TF Lookup Error in NvbloxCostmapLayer: "Extrapolation into the Future" Issue

alex.jaywill · October 1, 2024, 2:54pm

Dear Isaac ROS Team @Raffaello

I am encountering an issue with the NvbloxCostmapLayer when trying to transform between the map and odom frames in my ROS2-based application. The system frequently logs a warning about extrapolation into the future, as shown below:
[component_container_isolated-4] [WARN] [1727793921.601548454] [global_costmap.global_costmap]: [NvbloxCostmapLayer] Can’t transform: map to odom. Error: Lookup would require extrapolation into the future. Requested time 1727793921.600585 but the latest data is at time 1727793921.580367, when looking up transform from frame [odom] to frame [map]

It seems that the requested time for the transform is slightly ahead of the latest available data, causing the TF lookup to fail.

For context, I am using nvblox and have enabled visual odometry. I am successfully publishing the transform relationships from map to odom and odom to base_link. Despite this, the issue occurs intermittently.

Could you provide any guidance or best practices to avoid this “extrapolation into the future” error in Isaac ROS with NvbloxCostmapLayer? Specifically, I would like to know:

Are there recommended TF buffer or transform settings that can help mitigate this issue?
Should I be handling the transform requests differently to account for time delays or synchronization issues?
Any suggestions on improving TF performance, especially with visual odometry, to prevent this issue?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Raffaello · October 4, 2024, 5:17pm

Hi @alex.jaywill

Thank you for your post.

These types of errors are usually related to communication. There is one or more nodes that are receiving TF in delay. It can be the hardware communication, compute time, or something around these points.

I have some questions to help you better.

All ROS 2 nodes are running on the same platform?
if you are working on Jetson, which Jetson are you using?
Have you read this documentation related: ROS Communication Issues — isaac_ros_docs documentation

Let me know.

Raffaello

awi2 · October 12, 2024, 7:25am

Hi @Raffaello. I am having the same issue as well. All nodes are running on the same platform, and I’m using a Jetson Orin Nano. I tried the two solutions in the linked page, but neither worked.

Raffaello · October 14, 2024, 2:33pm

Hi @awi2

To better help you, have you tried the same setup running everything on the same machine?

Does this error also appear when you run our demo?

Best,
Raffaello