ROS-SF: A Transparent and Efficient ROS Middleware using Serialization-Free Message

What is it about?

Serialization has been widely used when communicating semantic messages. But the serialization / de-serialization routines introduce time and space overhead, especially for large messages. Current serialization-free frameworks can improve performance by eliminating these routines. But applications have to be rewritten, which is unacceptable for widely used communication middleware, such as ROS (Robot Operating System). Our ROS-SF presents a method to achieve serialization-free transparently (no code rewritting required).

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Photo by julien Tromeur on Unsplash

Photo by julien Tromeur on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our ROS-SF presents a method to achieve serialization-free transparently (no code rewritting required). To achieve this goal, we design a new serialization format SFM. It is similar to the memory layout of a C++ structure, so developers can construct and access it as if it is a C++ structure. Under three assumptions, the ROS-SF tool can automatically convert a ROS project, and its communication performance will be improved after simple re-compilation.