What is the best way to simulate a single point spinning range finder sensor?

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Hi Experts,

I am currently trying to implement a single point range finder over a spinning base. Here is my current needs: - update rate of 60Hz or less. - single point spinning (sonar or laser, doesn't matter at first)

I can: 1. create a spinning sensor with a single point both with controller manager or custom gazebo plugin. 2. control the angular rotation speed, accurately. 3. generate and read points (even though I am limited to <30Hz no matter what I do)

Still, no matter what I do I keep stuck at 30Hz: a. Tried Gazebo 7 and 9... no success b. Slowing down the simulation seems to have no effect at the 30Hz update rate, and it would suck to make it run at a ratio of full speed. c. gpu_ray is not supported for what I am doing for some reason, even though I am not sure the frame rate would rise for single point. Moreover, it seems to be impossible to make it work anyways (currently using NVidia Geforce GTX1060 -- app hangs).

Is there any way I can increase the number of points per second? Should I use a different setup?

Thanks,

For those that will ask for it, here is my xacro/gazebo stuff...

  <!-- Macro description for the 881L sonar -->
  <xacro:macro name="spinning_profiling_sonar_881L" params="namespace parent_link update_rate range_max angular_speed *origin">
    <xacro:mech_sonar
      namespace="${namespace}"
      suffix="881L"
      parent_link="${parent_link}"
      topic="/${namespace}/881L/sonar"
      update_rate="${update_rate}"
      samples="1"
      range_min="0.5"
      range_max="${range_max}"
      angular_speed="${angular_speed}"
      range_stddev="0.01">
      <xacro:insert_block name="origin" />
    </xacro:mech_sonar>
  </xacro:macro>

  <xacro:macro name="mech_sonar"
    params="namespace suffix parent_link topic update_rate  samples range_min range_max angular_speed range_stddev
       *origin">

    <!-- Sensor link -->
    <!-- Give the base link a unique name -->
    <link name="${namespace}/${suffix}_root_link">
      <xacro:insert_block name="origin" />
      <inertial>
        <!-- Using Cylinder inertia equation from
             https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_moments_of_inertia 
             We are leaving 200g for the motor rotation part-->
        <mass value="1.3"/>
        <inertia ixx="0.0055276258" iyy="0.0055276258" izz="0.0011820675" ixy="0" ixz="0" iyz="0" />
      </inertial>
      <xacro:no_collision/>
      <visual name="base_visual">
        <geometry>
          <mesh filename="package://vita_sensors/models/881L/meshes/881L.dae" />                    
        </geometry>
      </visual>
    </link>

    <link name="${namespace}/${suffix}_top_link">
    <!-- Give the base link a unique name -->
      <origin xyz="0 0 0" rpy="0 ${pi} ${pi}"/>
      <inertial>
        <mass value="0.2" />
        <inertia ixx="0.000090623" iyy="0.000090623" izz="0.000091036" ixy="0" ixz="0" iyz="0" />
      </inertial>
      <xacro:no_collision/>
      <visual>
        <geometry>
          <cylinder length="${0.000001}" radius="${0.000001}" />
        </geometry>
      </visual>
    </link>

    <joint name="${namespace}/${suffix}_fixed_joint" type="fixed">
      <xacro:insert_block name="origin" />
      <parent link="${parent_link}" />
      <child link="${namespace}/${suffix}_root_link" />
    </joint>

    <!-- Each joint must have a unique name -->
    <joint type="revolute" name="${namespace}/${suffix}_sensor_joint">
      <!-- Position the joint at the bottom of the top link -->
      <origin xyz="0 0 0.086" rpy="0 0 0" />
      <!-- Use the base link as the parent of the joint -->
      <parent link="${namespace}/${suffix}_root_link" />
      <!-- Use the top link as the child of the joint -->
      <child link="${namespace}/${suffix}_top_link"/>
      <!-- The axis defines the joint's ...