Add ROS 2 Record & Replay and Fast DDS Spy descriptions (backport #146)

docs/rst/introduction/developer_tools.rst

@@ -16,13 +16,17 @@ Developer Tools
    tools/backend.rst
    tools/shapes_demo.rst
    tools/router.rst
+   tools/recordreplay.rst
+   tools/fastddsspy.rst
    tools/webots.rst
 
 - :ref:`ROS 2 QoS Profiles Manager <vulcanexus_qos_profiles_manager>`: tool suite to generate XML configuration files for Vulcanexus middleware Fast DDS.
 - :ref:`ROS 2 Monitor <vulcanexus_monitor>`: graphical desktop application to monitor *ROS 2* communications.
 - :ref:`Fast DDS Statistics Backend <fastdds_statistics_backend>`: *ROS 2 Monitor*'s backend. Can be leveraged with other monitoring frontend applications (e.g. :ref:`Prometheus <tutorials_tools_prometheus>`).
 - :ref:`ROS 2 Shapes Demo <vulcanexus_shapes_demo>`: first demo application to understand the most used *ROS 2* Quality of Service (QoS) and test DDS and *ROS 2* communication.
 - :ref:`ROS 2 Router <vulcanexus_router>`: end-user software application enabling the connection of distributed *ROS 2* environments.
+- :ref:`ROS 2 Record & Replay <vulcanexus_recordreplay>`: end-user software applications that efficiently save messages published in a *ROS 2* environment and playback these messages in the order in which they were recorded.
+- :ref:`Fast DDS Spy <vulcanexus_fastddsspy>`: CLI interactive tool that allows the introspection of a *ROS 2* environment in a human readable format.
 - :ref:`Webots <webots>`: open-source three-dimensional mobile robot simulator.
 
 .. note::

docs/rst/introduction/tools/fastddsspy.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+.. _vulcanexus_fastddsspy:
+
+Fast DDS Spy
+============
+
+*Fast DDS Spy* is CLI interactive tool that allows the introspection of a ROS 2 network in human readable format.
+It is possible to query the network about the Participants connected, their endpoints (Publishers and Subscriptions) and the topics they communicate in.
+It is also possible to see the user data sent through network topics in a schematic format in run time.
+
+Overview
+--------
+
+*Fast DDS Spy* is a tool that captures DDS packages in the network and maintain a local database that is accessible from a interactive CLI.
+*Fast DDS Spy* responds to user commands introduced by text and prints to ``stdout`` the information requested.
+This tool has several commands to interact with it, allowing the user to get information about the status of the network.
+It supports listing of existing topics, Participants, Publishers, and Subscriptions, and printing data in real time in a human readable format.
+
+.. figure:: /rst/figures/intro/tools/fastddsspy/fastddsspy.png
+    :align: center
+
+*Fast DDS Spy* is easily configurable and installed with a default setup, so that DDS topics, data types and entities are automatically discovered without the need to specify the types of data.
+This is because this tool leverages the DynamicTypes functionality of `eProsima Fast DDS <https://fast-dds.docs.eprosima.com>`_, the C++ implementation of the `DDS (Data Distribution Service) Specification <https://www.omg.org/spec/DDS/About-DDS/>`_ defined by the `Object Management Group (OMG) <https://www.omg.org/>`_.
+
+Next Steps
+----------
+
+Visit `eProsima Fast DDS Spy Documentation <https://fast-dds-spy.readthedocs.io/en/latest>`_ for more information on how to configure and use *Fast DDS Spy*.
+Also feel free to review :ref:`Vulcanexus Tools Tutorials <tutorials_tools_tools_tutorials>` to discover the possibilities that this tool has to offer in different scenarios.

docs/rst/introduction/tools/recordreplay.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+.. _vulcanexus_recordreplay:
+
+ROS 2 Record & Replay
+=====================
+
+*ROS 2 Record & Replay* (a.k.a. *DDS Record & Replay*) is an end-user software application that efficiently saves ROS 2 messages published into a DDS environment in a MCAP format database.
+Thus, the exact playback of the recorded network events is possible as the data is linked to the timestamp at which the original data was published.
+
+*ROS 2 Record & Replay* is easily configurable and installed with a default setup, so that DDS topics, data types and entities are automatically discovered without the need to specify the types of data recorded.
+This is because the recording tool leverages the DynamicTypes functionality of `eProsima Fast DDS <https://fast-dds.docs.eprosima.com>`_, the C++ implementation of the `DDS (Data Distribution Service) Specification <https://www.omg.org/spec/DDS/About-DDS/>`_ defined by the `Object Management Group (OMG) <https://www.omg.org/>`_.
+
+Overview
+--------
+
+*ROS 2 Record & Replay* includes the following tools:
+
+* **ROS 2 Recorder tool**.
+  The main functionality of this tool is to save the data in a `MCAP <https://mcap.dev/>`_ database.
+  The database contains the records of the publication timestamp of the data, the serialized data, and the definition of the data serialization type and format.
+  The output MCAP file can be read with any user tool compatible with MCAP file reading since it contains all the necessary information for reading and reproducing the data.
+
+  .. figure:: /rst/figures/intro/tools/recordreplay/ddsrecord_overview.png
+    :align: center
+
+* **ROS 2 Replay tool**.
+  This application allows to reproduce DDS traffic recorded with a *ROS 2 Recorder*.
+  A user can specify which messages to replay by either setting a time range (begin/end times) out of which messages will be discarded, or directly by blocking/whitelisting a set of topics of interest.
+  It is also possible to choose a different playback rate, as well as to use topic QoS different to the ones recorded.
+
+  .. figure:: /rst/figures/intro/tools/recordreplay/ddsreplay_overview.png
+    :align: center
+
+Next Steps
+----------
+
+Visit `eProsima DDS Record & Replay Documentation <https://dds-recorder.readthedocs.io/en/latest>`_ for more information on how to configure and deploy a *ROS 2 Record & Replay* instance.
+Also feel free to review :ref:`Vulcanexus Tools Tutorials <tutorials_tools_tools_tutorials>` to discover the possibilities that this tool has to offer in different scenarios.