Inter-Module Protocol (IMP)

The software of automated vehicles typically consists of a guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system. This GNC system can be implemented in one or more applications on one or more hardware devices. The intermodule protocol only defines a set of messages intended to exchange basic data between modules of a GNC system. Only generic messages are defined, which are independent of the application and therefore independent of the vehicle type.

Overview

The following messages are defined by the Inter-Module Protocol.

Message ID	Name	Description
0x00	Info Request Message	Request information from a module.
0x01	Info Response Message	Response to an information request message.
0x47	Guidance Message	Provide a guidance state.
0x4C	Log Message	Provide a text log.
0x4E	Navigation Message	Provide a navigation state.
0x50	Convex Polygon Message	Provide a set of convex polygons.
0x54	Guidance Trajectory Message	Provide a state trajectory or waypoint list.

More information about the message format can be found in the HTML-based documentation. The directory structure of this repository is as follows.

File / Directory	Description
documentation	contains the HTML-based documentation
examples	contains examples for C++ and MATLAB/Simulink
library	contains the MATLAB/Simulink library "InterModuleProtocol" (>= R2023b)
resources	contains project definition files for the MATLAB/Simulink project
source	contains the actual source code (C++) of the Inter-Module Protocol
InterModuleProtocol.prj	Simulink project file
LICENSE	license information
README.md	this file

Getting Started (C++)

If you want to use the IMP, simply add the source directory to the sources of your C++ project. Include the header InterModuleProtocol.hpp and use the classes defined in the IMP namespace to encode or decode messages. Take a look at the C++ examples.

Getting Started (MATLAB/Simulink)

If you want to use the IMP for MATLAB/Simulink, first make sure that the library directory and all its subdirectories are in the MATLAB path. You can either start the Simulink project file InterModuleProtocol.prj or add it as reference project to an existing project. This will automatically add the required directories to the MATLAB path. The Inter-Module Protocol library now appears in the Simulink library browser. Take a look at the Simulink examples.

Rebuild driver blocks

The MATLAB/Simulink library comes with prebuild driver blocks for Windows and Linux. However, if you want to rebuild the driver blocks, run the script library/src/IMP_BuildDrivers.m.