Stream 3D Ultrasound in Foxglove: All-Weather Perception with Calyo PULSE

Foxglove is a modern, purpose-built tool for visualising robotics data (similar to the commonly used ROS RViz tool). We support Foxglove because it enables intuitive access to sensor data in real-time or from recorded sessions, making it easier to inspect and understand the PULSE’s unique outputs within ROS2.

With this integration, you can:

• • Visualise real-time or recorded 3D ultrasound point clouds
  • Debug ROS 2 pipelines with intuitive inspection tools
  • Custom plots and overlays tailored to PULSE output data
  • Fuse PULSE data with other sensors for validation and multimodal analysis
  • Calibrate the PULSE sensor in real time using interactive parameter tuning tools

On top of the base functionality provided by Foxglove, allowing the visualisation of standard ROS2 messages (e.g. point clouds and images), Calyo have developed a custom Foxglove extension which adds a range of new panels targeting the PULSE sensor. These include:

• • 2D Intensity Map Viewer – Supports both Cartesian and polar views
  • Multi-Channel Signal Plotter – View raw ultrasound returns in real time
  • JSON Config Visualiser – Inspect the sensor’s live configuration
  • Parameter Editor & Tuning Panel – Fine-tune sensor behaviour interactively

Of course, you also retain access to all of Foxglove’s core capabilities, including:

• • 3D visualisation
  • Raw message inspection
  • ROS 2 logging tools

How does this work in reality? Here’s how we use it internally at Calyo.

PULSE sensors are mounted in the front bumper of a road vehicle and integrated into a ROS 2-based perception stack. During urban testing, the Foxglove interface gives us a single place to monitor and work with the sensor in real time, even in complex, cluttered environments where traditional sensors struggle.

This setup lets us:

• • Calibrate the PULSE sensor live during tests
  • Compare PULSE output to other sensors in the stack
  • Validate detections quickly with synced visual overlays
  • Inspect raw signals and 3D data side-by-side
  • Record and replay sessions using MCAP, making it easy to compare performance against past datasets
  • Review and share datasets on any machine (no ROS installation required)

By combining visualisation, debugging, and validation in one tool, Foxglove helps us iterate faster and build confidence in PULSE’s real-world performance.

To get started with Calyo PULSE and Foxglove,

Minimum Requirements:

• • Calyo PULSE Sensor
  • ROS 2 (Humble or later)
  • Calyo SENSUS ROS integration (sensus-ros)
  • Foxglove (2.0 >) + Calyo SENSUS Foxglove plugin (sensus-foxglove)

*ROSless Foxglove integration coming soon!

👉 For more details to get up and running, follow our full integration guide in the Calyo Docs, https://docs.calyo.com/software/integrations/foxglove

If you’re working on robotics, autonomy, or industrial safety and want to see what ultrasound can really do, try visualising it. Explore your sensor data live, see what your system “sees,” and get one step closer to safer, more reliable autonomy no matter the conditions!

Interested in working with us? Get in touch.