intra-process-comms

Enable zero-copy ROS 2 messaging by setting use_intra_process_comms on all NodeOptions for publishers and subscribers running within the same component container, which avoids DDS serialization and reduces latency.

Use intra-process communication in ROS 2 for high-throughput pipelines such as image or point cloud processing where latency is critical, allowing nodes sharing the same process to transfer data without serialization overhead.

Intra-process communication support is limited for Python (rclpy) nodes, making it best suited for C++ component containers where full zero-copy messaging can be enabled across the publisher and subscriber chain.

If any node in the ROS 2 pipeline does not opt into intra-process comms, the entire communication chain falls back to standard inter-process DDS, reintroducing serialization overhead and losing zero-copy benefits.

Zero-copy component container communication is applicable for ROS 2 Jazzy and Rolling distributions, enabling shared-memory messaging between components to minimize data copies in high-throughput scenarios.