Voyant Pre-packaged Tools

🚧 These docs are currently out of date. 🚧

They reflect the Meadowlark (Carbon dev kit) API and may not apply to Carbon systems.
Fully updated documentation will be published when Carbon Alpha ships in April 2026.

Questions? Reach out to us at: support@voyantphotonics.com

The voyant-api package includes several command-line tools to help you work with Voyant LiDAR sensors. These tools are installed system-wide (or in the provided docker container) and are available in your PATH after installation.

Available Tools

Pro Tip: All Voyant tools begin with the prefix voyant_. You can discover available tools by typing voyant_ in your terminal and pressing Tab for auto-completion.

Core Workflow Tools

voyant_foxglove_bridge - Connect live sensor data streams to Foxglove Studio for real-time visualization
voyant_lidar_client - Configure and control your Voyant LiDAR device through its HTTP interface
voyant_logger_binary - Record sensor data to binary format file (recommended for preserving native data)

Playback & Analysis Tools

voyant_playback_check - Validate recorded data integrity and display frame metadata
voyant_playback_foxglove - Replay recorded data in Foxglove Studio for visualization and analysis

Data Conversion Tools

voyant_bin_to_csv - Convert binary logged point clouds to CSV format for data analysis

Utilities & Development Tools

voyant_hello_world - Simple example application to verify installation
voyant_ip_client - Configure custom IP addresses for Voyant LiDAR devices
voyant_points_mock_stream - Generate mock point cloud data for testing without a physical sensor
voyant_points_receiver_check - Debug tool to verify data stream reception and print basic frame metadata

Unsupported Tools

voyant_csv_to_bin & voyant_logger_mcap - Legacy/experimental tools with limited support

Getting Help

Each tool includes built-in help documentation. To see usage instructions, command-line options, and examples, use the --help flag:

voyant_foxglove_bridge --help

And you will see:

Usage: voyant_foxglove_bridge [OPTIONS] --bind-addr <BIND_ADDR> --group-addr <GROUP_ADDR>

Options:
  -k, --keep-invalid-points
          Keep invalid points in the assembled point cloud
      --ws-port <WS_PORT>
          Foxglove WebSocket port [default: 8765]
      --check-interval <CHECK_INTERVAL>
          Interval in milliseconds between checks for new frames [default: 10]
      --bind-addr <BIND_ADDR>
          Local address to bind to (e.g., "0.0.0.0:4444") Must use the same port that multicast senders are targeting
      --group-addr <GROUP_ADDR>
          Multicast group address to join (e.g., "224.0.0.0") Must be in the valid multicast range (224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255)
      --interface-addr <INTERFACE_ADDR>
          Local interface IP address to use for the multicast group Use "0.0.0.0" to use the default interface, or specify a particular interface IP [default: 0.0.0.0]
  -h, --help
          Print help
  -V, --version
          Print version

This shows you can run with the following, if you want to change the default foxglove websocket port and specify all addresses for the multicast connection:

voyant_foxglove_bridge --ws-port 1234 --bind-addr 0.0.0.0:4444 --group-addr 224.0.0.0 --interface-addr 127.0.0.1

Next Steps

After familiarizing yourself with these tools, check out the examples to learn how to integrate Voyant sensors into your own applications.