3D Environment#

The main entry point of the 3D Environment is the VCEInstance class in 3denv/VCEInstance.cs. Here, either a default scenario is loaded or a scenario that has been specified via the command line interface. To read these initial settings, an instance of LevelAndConnectionSettings (3denv/UI/LevelAndConnectionSettings.cs) is first obtained from the scene tree and then queried. Afterwards, again depending on the settings at launch time, the main menu will be activated and the connection to the Ego Vehicle Interface (EVI) may or may not be established immediately.

Street Network Generation#

Scenario generation from SUMO files is managed by the NetworkGenerator class (3denv/SumoImporter/NetworkGenerator.cs) via the LoadNetwork method.

Based on the selected .net.xml and .poly.xml SUMO configuration files, this method uses LoadNetFile() and LoadAndGenerateEnvironment() to read the respective XML file and to populate the scene.

Communication with the EVI#

The central class for communicating with the EVI is the EviConnector. These are roughly the steps that happen when a simulation is launched:

_Ready():

  • A ThreadedRequestWorker named netWorker is set up and started for handling the transmission and reception of ZeroMQ messages to and from the EVI. This will later be used in the _Process() method.

  • A new VehicleManager node is created and added to the scene. The VehicleManager is responsible for synchronizing the vehicles between the simulation in Godot and SUMO.

  • SyncEgoVehicle() of the VehicleManager node is called for the first time. Since this is the first time, egoVehicleRegistered == false and, thus, MakeRegisterCommand() is called to register the current type and position of the ego vehicle with the EVI.

  • vehicleUpdateTimer is created, which will be used to only update the ego vehicle in set intervals in _Process().

_Process():

Called every frame.

  • If netWorker has received registration commands for new fellow vehicles or unregistration commands for existing vehicles, VehicleManager.UpdateFellowVehicles() will be called with the corresponding vehicle data.

  • If netWorker has received updated vehicle states, apply them using VehicleManager.UpdateFellowVehicles() as well.

  • If netWorker has no updated vehicle states in this Godot frame. In this case each vehicle will interpolate their next position based on the last desired position received from EVI.

  • Then, any remaining updates that netWorker has received are handled by type:

    • Trafficlight

    • Visualization (i.e., warning messages from Veins used to spawn indicator arrows in the minimap view)

  • If sufficient time has passed (based on the value of vehicleUpdateStep), transmit the updated ego vehicle position to the EVI with VehicleManager.SyncEgoVehicle().

Communication with the Bicycle Interface#

Position and rotation updates from the bicycle interface (i.e., the physical bicycle with steering and speed sensor) are handled by the NetworkListener.

In _Ready(), a thread is started for listening to incoming UDP messages. This thread runs the ReceiveData() method. If a message is received, ReceiveData() will update member variables of the NetworkListener to the current position, rotation, and speed of the vehicle.

These values are then applied in every game engine time step in the _PhysicsProcess() method. In case of a bicycle ego vehicle, the PlayerVehicle of the VCEInstance will be a BicycleInterfaceController instance, which makes use of the class BicycleRig for taking care of applying the correct handle bar, wheel, and pedal rotations.