Topside Software

This repository hosts the necessary software, configurations, and documentation for deploying the Robotic Decision Making Lab's (RDML) topside system with the BlueROV2.

Installation

Clone the repository and run the install script to install the system dependencies (including Docker) and configure the utility aliases:

git clone git@github.com:Robotic-Decision-Making-Lab/RDML_BlueROV2_Topside.git
cd RDML_BlueROV2_Topside && ./scripts/install.sh

Log out and back in afterward so that the docker group membership and the new aliases take effect.

Usage

The topside stack, including the system monitor and joystick interface, is orchestrated by Docker Compose. These services are loaded automatically at boot. To check the status of the service, run

# check the service status
systemctl status topside.service
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml ps

# view the service logs
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml logs -f topside

Visualization

RViz can be launched from a container using the rviz alias

rviz

which loads the RViz configuration file by default.

Networking

The topside computer serves as the root of the BlueROV network and provides internet access via NAT.

Assign a static IP

Set the Ethernet interface (connected to the BlueROV network) to 192.168.2.1.

Enable internet masqurading

Internet forwarding from the topside system to the BlueROV2 is enabled using network address translation (NAT), which configures the topside device as a network gateway. This interface is exposed through scripts/nat.sh:

# run using
. nat.sh <wlan_interface> <eth_interface>

# append the -h flag for further details
. nat.sh -h

Configuring SSH key authentication for the local network

1. Generate an SSH key for the local network

   ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "BlueROV network key"

2. Copy the public key to each device in the subsystem

   ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/<ssh key>.pub user@device_ip

3. Manage the SSH key identities in ~/.ssh/config (optional)

   Host device1
       HostName <ip-address>
       User <username>
       IdentityFile <path-to-ssh-key-file>

Citation

This repository has been used in the following papers:

@article{palmer2026stochastic,
  title         = {{Stochastic Physics-Informed Neural Networks on Lie Groups for Learning Underwater Vehicle Dynamics}},
  author        = {Palmer, Evan F. and Hatton, Ross L. and Hollinger, Geoffrey A.},
  journal       = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.08356},
  year          = {2026},
  eprint        = {https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.08356},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  primaryClass  = {cs.RO},
}

License

RDML_BlueROV2_Topside is released under the MIT License.