ros2_medkit_topic_beacon

Topic-based beacon discovery plugin for ros2_medkit gateway

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README

ros2_medkit_topic_beacon

Gateway discovery plugin that subscribes to ROS 2 topics for real-time entity metadata. Enables push-based beacon discovery where nodes publish MedkitDiscoveryHint messages to enrich the SOVD entity tree.

How It Works

1. Nodes publish ros2_medkit_msgs::msg::MedkitDiscoveryHint messages on a beacon topic

2. The plugin subscribes, validates hints, and stores them with stamp-based TTL

3. A token bucket rate limiter prevents overload from high-frequency publishers

4. Results are exposed at the x-medkit-topic-beacon vendor extension endpoint

Hints transition through states: active (within TTL) -> stale (TTL expired, data still served with stale marker) -> expired (removed from store).

Configuration

plugins: ["topic_beacon"]
plugins.topic_beacon.path: "/path/to/libros2_medkit_topic_beacon.so"
plugins.topic_beacon.beacon_ttl_sec: 10.0
plugins.topic_beacon.beacon_expiry_sec: 300.0
plugins.topic_beacon.allow_new_entities: true
plugins.topic_beacon.max_messages_per_second: 100.0

See discovery options for full configuration reference.

When to Use

Use the topic beacon when entity metadata changes in real time - sensor health, connection quality, load metrics. For stable metadata that rarely changes, use the parameter beacon instead.

License

Apache License 2.0