Building for Arduino Microcontrollers

This section will guide you on converting your project to build for Arduino microcontrollers using the fprime-arduino package.

Adding fprime-arduino

First, add the fprime-arduino package as a submodule into your project root.

# In led-blinker
git submodule add https://github.com/fprime-community/fprime-arduino.git

Add fprime-arduino as a library and change the default build toolchain to teensy41 in led-blinker/settings.ini after the framework path.

library_locations: ./fprime-arduino
default_toolchain: teensy41

If you would like to use a different board as your default toolchain, you may change teensy41 to your desired board.

Adding fprime-baremetal

Next, add the fprime-baremetal package as a submodule into your project root.

# In led-blinker
git submodule add https://github.com/fprime-community/fprime-baremetal.git

Add fprime-baremetal as an additional library into led-blinker/settings.ini, separated by a :. It should look like:

library_locations: ./fprime-arduino:./fprime-baremetal

Modifying F´ Configuration Files (Optional)

If you are building for a system with low memory (< 100KB RAM), this step is recommended.

Copy the default F´ configuration files into your project root.

cp -r fprime/config .

Reference the config files in this repository and modify your config files accordingly. Or, you may clone this repository and copy the entire config directory into your project.

Then redirect the configuration path in your led-blinker/settings.ini by adding the following line:

config_directory: ./config

Add Arduino Deployment

In order to produce an executable to run the software, users need to create a deployment. A deployment is one software executable that contains the main entry point, and an F´ system topology. We will be using a custom deployment that autogenerates an Arduino deployment.

First, add the line into led-blinker/settings.ini:

deployment_cookiecutter: https://github.com/fprime-community/fprime-arduino-deployment-cookiecutter.git

Create a new deployment in the led-blinker directory with:

#In led-blinker
fprime-util new --deployment

This will ask for some input, respond with the following answers:

[INFO] Cookiecutter source: https://github.com/fprime-community/fprime-arduino-deployment-cookiecutter.git
  [1/1] deployment_name (fprime-arduino-deployment): LedBlinker
[INFO] Found CMake file at 'led-blinker/project.cmake'
Add LedBlinker to led-blinker/project.cmake at end of file? (yes/no) [yes]: yes

Use the default response for any other questions asked.

In order to check that the deployment was created successfully, the user can generate a build cache and build the deployment. This will generate and build the code for the current host system, not the remote embedded hardware allowing a local test during development.

Test Deployment

Test the new teensy41 build by running:

fprime-util generate
fprime-util build

If you wish to test other Arduino builds, append the build name after fprime-util generate and fprime-util build. Tested boards are listed here

Conclusion

Congratulations! You are now able to build an F´ deployment for Arduino microcontrollers! The next step is to create your LED Component.

Note: You can no longer build for the native system as this is now an Arduino specific deployment.

Next Step: Component Design and Initial Implementation.