New Major ILLIXR Release!

Release Highlights

Major Changes

• Build System Overhaul: The entire build system has been rewritten to utilize CMake, streamlining plugin management and dependency checking.
• New Graphics Pipeline: A new graphics pipeline using the Vulkan API has been implemented through the new plugins vkdemo, timewarp_vk, display_vk, and native_renderer.
• Monado Integration: Updated integration to support Monado's out-of-process compositor, enabling the use of more OpenXR apps, including those based on Unreal Engine and Vulkan.
• Plugin Updates: Numerous plugins have been updated, with a few new ones added.
• SLAM Plugin Update: OpenVINS is now the default SLAM plugin, and Kimera-VIO is no longer available.

What's Changed

• Offload VIO Plugins: Updated to a TCP implementation with separate IMU and Camera types; added H264 codec.
• Timewarp GL Plugin: Modified to render into two textures/framebuffers with Vulkan-OpenGL interop.
• New Plugins:
  • openni plugin
  • fauxpose plugin
• Plugin Fixes: Fixed a shaking issue with the zed plugin.
• Logging Infrastructure: Overhauled to use spdlog.
• Documentation Overhaul: Improved clarity and descriptiveness, with an interactive tool for selecting plugins and their dependencies, along with customized build commands.
• Modular Build System: Converted the ILLIXR codebase to a more modular build system using CMake.

Issues Addressed

This release addresses and closes several issues, including:

• Evaluating Ninja/CMake/Bazel for the plugin build system.
• Adding a human-readable logging infrastructure.
• Separating IMU/camera Switchboard topics.
• Fixing plugin documentation.
• Separating out Qemu setup from the main setup.
• Switching languages for the runner's config schema.
• Preserving partial progress in the Makefile.
• Refactoring configurations to reduce redundancy.
• Adding a libgtsam.so symlink in the GTSAM install script.
• Updating documentation.
• Fixing a memory leak in the offline_imu_cam plugin.
• Resolving installation issues on Ubuntu 22.04.
• Specifying required GPU specifications.
• Reducing dependency on OpenCV.
• Cleaning up headers and includes.

Detailed Plugin Changes

• Offload VIO Plugins: Transitioned to TCP implementation with separate IMU and Camera types, and added H264 codec.
• Timewarp GL Plugin: Enhanced to render into two textures/framebuffers with Vulkan-OpenGL interop.
• New Plugins:
  • openni: Provides new functionalities for OpenNI integration.
  • fauxpose: Adds new capabilities for pose estimation.
• Plugin Fixes: Resolved a shaking issue with the zed plugin.
• Logging Overhaul: Implemented spdlog for better logging infrastructure.
• Documentation: Improved for clarity and usability, including an interactive plugin selection tool.

For more information and to access the release, visit our GitHub page.