Ensure and document OpenVDB support

DEVELOPING.md

@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ Within a development environment:
     rosdep install --from-path src
     ```
 
+🔸`beluga_vdb` requires OpenVDB to be installed in order to be used. For Ubuntu distributions previous to `Noble` OpenVDB needs to be installed from sources before building, installation instructions can be found [here](beluga_vdb/README.md). If you don't need to use `beluga_vdb` you can skip this package using `colcon build --symlink-install --packages-ignore beluga_vdb`
+
 For more advanced tooling, check repository [tools](./tools).
 
 ## CI/CD

README.md

@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ This repository contains the following packages:
 | [`beluga_example`](beluga_example)           | Example launch files, showing how to run Beluga-based nodes.                                                            |
 | [`beluga_benchmark`](beluga_benchmark)       | Scripts to benchmark, profile and also compare Beluga with other MCL implementations.                                   |
 | [`beluga_system_tests`](beluga_system_tests) | System integration tests for Beluga.                                                                                    |
+| [`beluga_vdb`](beluga_vdb) | A library extension for `beluga` facilitating the use of OpenVDB for 3D localization.                                                                                    |
 
 ## ⚙️ First Steps
 

beluga_vdb/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+# Beluga VDB
+
+<div align="center">
+<img alt="Shows the Beluga logo." src="images/57fe338a-3e7e-46b3-ad2f-17011d6d306a.png" height="200">
+</div>
+
+## 🌐 Overview
+
+BelugaVDB is a library extension for `beluga` that integrates [OpenVDB](https://www.openvdb.org/), enabling advanced 3D localization capabilities. Currently, this extension uses the powerful volumetric data structure of OpenVDB to efficiently process maps and 3D pointcloud data, providing the localization of the autonomous system.
+
+
+## 📦 External Dependencies
+
+### OpenVDB
+
+For Ubuntu 24.04 and newer versions OpenVDB can be installed using `apt`:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt install libopenvdb-dev
+```
+
+Older version must be isnstalled from sources as follow:
+
+#### Step 1: Download OpenVDB
+
+Clone [OpenVDB](https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openvdb) into your machine (for Jammy version 8.2.0 is recommended):
+
+```bash
+git clone -b v8.2.0 https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openvdb.git
+```
+
+#### Step 2: Compile OpenVDB
+
+Now you need to build OpenVDB:
+
+```bash
+cd openvdb && \
+mkdir build && cd build && \
+cmake .. && \
+make -j$(nproc)
+```
+
+#### Step 3: Install OpenVDB
+
+You can now install OpenVDB using:
+
+```bash
+sudo make install
+```
+
+🔸 For more information about OpenVDB please refer to the [official documentation](https://www.openvdb.org/documentation/doxygen/).

beluga_vdb/include/beluga_vdb/sensor/likelihood_field_model3.hpp

@@ -24,8 +24,6 @@
 
 #include <Eigen/Core>
 
-#include <range/v3/algorithm/fold_left.hpp>
-#include <range/v3/algorithm/for_each.hpp>
 #include <range/v3/numeric/accumulate.hpp>
 #include <range/v3/range/conversion.hpp>
 #include <range/v3/view/all.hpp>
@@ -133,7 +131,7 @@ class LikelihoodFieldModel3 {
                               ranges::to<std::vector>();
 
     return [this, points = std::move(transformed_points)](const state_type& state) -> weight_type {
-      return ranges::fold_left(
+      return ranges::accumulate(
           points |  //
               ranges::views::transform([this, &state](const auto& point) {
                 const Eigen::Vector3d point_in_state_frame = state * point;

docker/images/humble/Dockerfile

@@ -84,6 +84,15 @@ RUN /bin/bash -c '\
 
 RUN cd /opt && git clone https://github.com/brendangregg/FlameGraph
 
+# Install OpenVDB from sources
+RUN cd /tmp && \
+    git clone -b v8.2.0 https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/openvdb.git && \
+    cd openvdb && \
+    mkdir build && cd build && \
+    cmake .. && \
+    make -j$(nproc) && sudo make install && \
+    rm -rf /tmp/openvdb
+
 USER $USER:$GROUP
 
 ENV USER_WS /ws