Create System Plugins

In Gazebo, all systems are loaded as plugins at runtime. Each system is associated with an entity in simulation. Systems can be attached to the following entity types:

• World
• Model
• Sensor
• Actor

To create a system plugin for use in the simulation environment, follow the steps below. The fully working example is available here.

Decide on interfaces to implement

The first step of implementing a system plugin is to determine the subset of available interfaces to implement. Aside from the base System object, there are currently four additional available interfaces:

1. ISystemConfigure
   1. Has read-write access to world entities and components.
   2. Executed once the moment the plugin is loaded.
   3. Can be used to get custom configuration from the SDF file, register events with the event manager, as well as modifying entities and components.
2. ISystemPreUpdate
   1. Has read-write access to world entities and components.
   2. This is where systems say what they'd like to happen at time gz::sim::UpdateInfo::simTime.
   3. Can be used to modify state before physics runs, for example for applying control signals or performing network synchronization.
3. ISystemUpdate
   1. Has read-write access to world entities and components.
   2. Used for physics simulation step (i.e., simulates what happens at time gz::sim::UpdateInfo::simTime).
4. ISystemPostUpdate
   1. Has read-only access to world entities and components.
   2. Captures everything that happened at time gz::sim::UpdateInfo::simTime.
   3. Used to read out results at the end of a simulation step to be used for sensor or controller updates.
5. ISystemReset
   1. Has read-write access to world entities and components.
   2. Executed once the moment the plugin is reseted.

It's important to note that gz::sim::UpdateInfo::simTime does not refer to the current time, but the time reached after the PreUpdate and Update calls have finished. So, if any of the *Update functions are called with simulation paused, time does not advance, which means the time reached after PreUpdate and Update is the same as the starting time. This explains why gz::sim::UpdateInfo::simTime is initially 0 if simulation is started paused, while gz::sim::UpdateInfo::simTime is initially gz::sim::UpdateInfo::dt if simulation is started un-paused.

Systems that are only used to read the current state of the world (sensors, graphics, and rendering) should implement ISystemPostUpdate.

Generally, systems that do not manage physics stepping will not need to implement the ISystemUpdate interface.

Controllers and systems that provide feedback based on the state of the world will need to implement ISystemPostUpdate to read the state at the end of an update frame, as well as ISystemPreUpdate to provide feedback at the beginning of the next frame.

Implement Header

The header should include the System header:

Your System object should inherit from the System object as well as from any interfaces that it provides. It should then implement the corresponding methods from the inherited interfaces.

#include <gz/sim/System.hh>
 
namespace sample_system
{
  class SampleSystem:
    // This class is a system.
    public gz::sim::System,
    // This class also implements the ISystemPostUpdate interface.
    public gz::sim::ISystemPostUpdate
  {
    public: SampleSystem();
 
    public: ~SampleSystem() override;
 
    public: void PostUpdate(const gz::sim::UpdateInfo &_info,
                const gz::sim::EntityComponentManager &_ecm) override;
  };
 
  class SampleSystem2:
    // This class is a system.
    public gz::sim::System,
    // This class also implements the ISystemPreUpdate, ISystemUpdate,
    // and ISystemPostUpdate interfaces.
    public gz::sim::ISystemPreUpdate,
    public gz::sim::ISystemUpdate,
    public gz::sim::ISystemPostUpdate,
    public gz::sim::ISystemReset
  {
    public: SampleSystem2();
 
    public: ~SampleSystem2() override;
 
    public: void PreUpdate(const gz::sim::UpdateInfo &_info,
                gz::sim::EntityComponentManager &_ecm) override;
 
    public: void Update(const gz::sim::UpdateInfo &_info,
                gz::sim::EntityComponentManager &_ecm) override;
 
    public: void PostUpdate(const gz::sim::UpdateInfo &_info,
                const gz::sim::EntityComponentManager &_ecm) override;
 
    public: void Reset(const gz::sim::UpdateInfo &_info,
                 gz::sim::EntityComponentManager &_ecm) override;
  };
}

Register Plugin

If the library will only contain one plugin:

#include <gz/plugin/Register.hh>
 
// Include a line in your source file for each interface implemented.
GZ_ADD_PLUGIN(
    sample_system::SampleSystem,
    gz::sim::System,
    sample_system::SampleSystem::ISystemPostUpdate)

If the library will contain multiple plugins, in one implementation do as above, and then for each successive implementation use:

#include <gz/plugin/RegisterMore.hh>
 
GZ_ADD_PLUGIN(
    sample_system::SampleSystem2,
    gz::sim::System,
    sample_system::SampleSystem2::ISystemPreUpdate,
    sample_system::SampleSystem2::ISystemUpdate,
    sample_system::SampleSystem2::ISystemPostUpdate,
    sample_system::SampleSystem2::ISystemReset)

Implement Source

Implement the system class as usual, for example:

using namespace sample_system;
 
SampleSystem::SampleSystem()
{
}
 
SampleSystem::~SampleSystem()
{
}
 
void SampleSystem::PostUpdate(const gz::sim::UpdateInfo &_info,
    const gz::sim::EntityComponentManager &_ecm)
{
  gzmsg << "SampleSystem::PostUpdate" << std::endl;
}

Setup the build

In your CMakeLists.txt add the following

find_package(gz-plugin3 REQUIRED COMPONENTS register)
set(GZ_PLUGIN_VER ${gz-plugin3_VERSION_MAJOR})
 
# Add sources for each plugin to be registered.
add_library(SampleSystem SHARED SampleSystem.cc SampleSystem2.cc)
set_property(TARGET SampleSystem PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 17)
target_link_libraries(SampleSystem
  PRIVATE gz-plugin${GZ_PLUGIN_VER}::gz-plugin${GZ_PLUGIN_VER}
  PRIVATE gz-sim9::gz-sim9)

Loading your plugin

In the SDF file representing your simulation, add the plugin to the world section:

<sdf version="1.6">
  <world name="default">
    ...
    <plugin
      filename="SampleSystem"
      name="sample_system::SampleSystem">
    </plugin>
    <plugin
      filename="SampleSystem"
      name="sample_system::SampleSystem2">
    </plugin>
    ...