Setup an Ubuntu VirtualBox instance on Windows 10 to connect to a Velodyne VLP-16 sensor

An Ubuntu 18.04 guest OS virtual machine running on a Windows 10 host can connect to a Velodyne VLP-16 LiDAR sensor and process the sensor's data and positioning packets. However, the VirtualBox Ubuntu guest OS must be configured properly to transfer the LiDAR data packets from the host OS to the guest OS. The following steps show how to perform the settings.

1. On Windows, open the Internet and Network Settings.
   
    
2.  Click the Change adapter options.
   
   The Network Connections window opens.
   
3. Right click on the Local Area Connection icon. Choose Properties.
   
   The Local Area Connection Properties dialog box appears.
   
4. Select Internet Protocol Version 4. Click Properties.
   
   The Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPV4) Properties appear.
   
5. Toggle on Use the following IP address. In the IP address field, type in the following address:
   
   192.168.1.77
6. Click OK to all the dialog boxes.
   
   The local Windows machine IP address is changed to 192.168.1.77
   
   
   
7. Optional. If necessary, use the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security App to open up the host Windows OS UDP ports for Oracle VirtualBox. In the Inbound Rules, make sure the VirtualBox Manager entries are enabled, as shown below.
   
   
   
   
8. Now start Oracle VirtualBox.
   
   The Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager appears.
   
9. Select the Ubuntu instance, e.g. Ubuntu18. Then click Settings.
   
   The Ubuntu18 Settings dialog box appears.
   
10. Click Network. Then click the Port forwarding button.
    
    The Port forwarding rules dialog box appears.
11. Click the Plus icon and add in two UDP protocol rules as shown below.
    
    
    
    Note: The rules will forward UDP packets from ports 2368 and 8308 on the Windows host to the same ports on the Ubuntu guest.
12. Click OK.
13. Now start the Ubuntu18 host.
14. Login to Ubuntu and run Veloview. In Veloview, connect to the Velodyne VLP-16 sensor stream as per normal.
    
    The LiDAR point cloud is displayed.