Feature Request: Configurable PointCloud Fields (ring, time, azimuth, etc.)

[mingminQ]

First of all, thank you for this great plugin — it has been very useful in my workflow.

Currently, the plugin outputs point clouds with only XYZI fields. However, in many LiDAR-based applications, additional per-point information is often required depending on the use case.

For example:

• ring: essential for scan-line based algorithms (e.g., LOAM, ground segmentation)
• time / timestamp: required for motion compensation (de-skewing)
• azimuth: useful for scan reconstruction, debugging, and validation

In practice, different users may require different combinations of fields (e.g., ring, time, azimuth, etc.), depending on their algorithms and sensor modeling needs.

Therefore, it would be very helpful if the point cloud field layout could be configurable via SDF, rather than being fixed to XYZI.

Suggested approach

• Keep the default behavior as XYZI (for backward compatibility)
• Allow optional fields such as:
  • ring
  • time (or per-point timestamp)
  • azimuth
  • etc.
• Enable/disable these fields via SDF parameters

Example (concept):

<point_fields>
  <field>xyz</field>
  <field>intensity</field>
  <field>ring</field>
  <field>time</field>
  <field>azimuth</field>
</point_fields>

or

<enable_ring>true</enable_ring>
<enable_time>true</enable_time>
<enable_azimuth>false</enable_azimuth>

This would greatly improve flexibility and allow the simulator to better match real LiDAR outputs across different sensors and applications.

Thanks again for your work!