Add hardware encoding

README.md

@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@ sudo apt-get install libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-good1
                                # False = rtsp://0.0.0.0:portAndMountpoint (The stream is accessible from the outside) 
                                # For example, to access the stream running on the machine with IP = 192.168.20.20,
                                # use rtsp://192.186.20.20:portAndMountpoint
+    encoder: "software"        # Which encoder to use, "hardware" automatically selects an available hardware encoder.
+                               # Use "nvidia", "intel" or "amd" to force an encoder if available.
+                               # Use "software" to force the software encoder.
+                               # Always falls back to software if a hardware encoder can't be found.
+                               # Defaults to "software".
   - Save your configuration and navigate to `ros2_ws` colcon root, source and build the package:
       ```bashrc
       cd ~/ros2_ws/

config/parameters.yaml

@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@
                            # False = rtsp://0.0.0.0:portAndMountpoint (The stream is accessible from the outside) 
                            # For example, to access the stream running on the machine with IP = 192.168.20.20,
                            # use rtsp://192.186.20.20:portAndMountpoint
+      encoder: "software"

include/image2rtsp.hpp

@@ -28,8 +28,10 @@ private:
     string pipeline_tail;
     bool local_only;
     bool camera;
+    string encoder;
     GstAppSrc *appsrc;
 
+    std::string get_encoder_pipeline();
     void video_mainloop_start();
     void rtsp_server_add_url(const char *url, const char *sPipeline, GstElement **appsrc);
     void topic_callback(const sensor_msgs::msg::Image::SharedPtr msg);

src/image2rtsp.cpp

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Image2rtsp::Image2rtsp() : Node("image2rtsp"){
     this->declare_parameter("port", "8554");
     this->declare_parameter("local_only", true);
     this->declare_parameter("camera", false);
+    this->declare_parameter("encoder", "software");
 
     source = this->get_parameter("source").as_string();
     topic = this->get_parameter("topic").as_string();
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ Image2rtsp::Image2rtsp() : Node("image2rtsp"){
     port = this->get_parameter("port").as_string();
     local_only = this->get_parameter("local_only").as_bool();
     camera = this->get_parameter("camera").as_bool();
+    encoder = this->get_parameter("encoder").as_string();
 
     // Start the subscription
     subscription_ = this->create_subscription<sensor_msgs::msg::Image>(topic, 10, std::bind(&Image2rtsp::topic_callback, this, _1));
@@ -39,11 +41,17 @@ Image2rtsp::Image2rtsp() : Node("image2rtsp"){
     rtsp_server = rtsp_server_create(port, local_only);
     appsrc = NULL;
     // Setup the pipeline
-    pipeline_tail = " key-int-max=30 ! video/x-h264, profile=baseline ! rtph264pay name=pay0 pt=96 )";
+    pipeline_tail = " ! video/x-h264,profile=constrained-baseline ! rtph264pay name=pay0 pt=96 "
+    "config-interval=1 aggregate-mode=zero-latency ! "
+    "application/x-rtp,media=video )";
+    auto encoder = get_encoder_pipeline();
     if (camera == false){
-        pipeline_head = "( appsrc name=imagesrc do-timestamp=true min-latency=0 max-latency=0 max-bytes=1000 is-live=true ! videoconvert ! videoscale ! ";
-        pipeline = pipeline_head + caps_1 + framerate + caps_2 + " ! x264enc tune=zerolatency bitrate=" + bitrate + pipeline_tail;
+        pipeline_head = "( appsrc name=imagesrc do-timestamp=true min-latency=0 "
+        "max-latency=0 max-bytes=2000000 is-live=true ! queue max-size-buffers=1 leaky=downstream ! videoconvert ! videoscale ! ";
+        pipeline = pipeline_head + caps_1 + framerate + caps_2 + 
+            " ! " + encoder + " bitrate=" + bitrate + pipeline_tail;
         rtsp_server_add_url(mountpoint.c_str(), pipeline.c_str(), (GstElement **)&(appsrc));
+        RCLCPP_INFO(this->get_logger(), "pipeline: %s", pipeline.c_str());
     }
     else {
         pipeline = "( " + source + " ! videoconvert ! videoscale ! " + caps_1 + framerate + caps_2 + " ! x264enc tune=zerolatency bitrate=" + bitrate + pipeline_tail;
@@ -52,6 +60,38 @@ Image2rtsp::Image2rtsp() : Node("image2rtsp"){
     RCLCPP_INFO(this->get_logger(), "Stream available at rtsp://%s:%s%s", gst_rtsp_server_get_address(rtsp_server), port.c_str(), mountpoint.c_str());
 }
 
+std::string Image2rtsp::get_encoder_pipeline() {
+    GstElementFactory* factory;
+
+    // Check for NVIDIA encoder
+    factory = gst_element_factory_find("nvh264enc");
+    if (factory && (encoder == "hardware" || encoder == "nvidia")) {
+        gst_object_unref(factory);
+        RCLCPP_INFO(this->get_logger(), "Using NVIDIA hardware encoder");
+        return "nvh264enc preset=low-latency-hp rc-mode=cbr-ld-hq zerolatency=true";
+    }
+
+    // Check for VA-API encoder
+    factory = gst_element_factory_find("vaapih264enc");
+    if (factory && (encoder == "hardware" || encoder == "intel")) {
+        gst_object_unref(factory);
+        RCLCPP_INFO(this->get_logger(), "Using VA-API hardware encoder");
+        return "vaapipostproc ! vaapih264enc rate-control=cbr quality-level=7";
+    }
+
+    // Check for AMD encoder
+    factory = gst_element_factory_find("amfh264enc");
+    if (factory && (encoder == "hardware" || encoder == "amd")) {
+        gst_object_unref(factory);
+        RCLCPP_INFO(this->get_logger(), "Using AMD hardware encoder");
+        return "amfh264enc usage=ultra-low-latency";
+    }
+
+    // Fallback to software encoder
+    RCLCPP_INFO(this->get_logger(), "Using software encoder");
+    return "x264enc tune=zerolatency speed-preset=ultrafast";
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
     rclcpp::init(argc, argv);
     auto node = std::make_shared<Image2rtsp>();