Developing Deployments

Background

The deployment is the portion of F’ that will actually run on the spacecraft. Think of the deployment like an executable.

In this Section

In this section, you will create a deployment and integrate the deployment with the other work you have completed. At the end of this section, you will run the F’ ground data system and test your components by actually running them!

Create a Deployment

Use the following command to create the deployment:

# In: MathProject 
fprime-util new --deployment

When creating the deployment you will be asked two questions, answer them as follows:

[INFO] Cookiecutter: using builtin template for new deployment
Deployment [MyDeployment]: MathDeployment
[INFO] Found CMake file at 'fprime-tutorial-math-component/project.cmake'
Add component Deployment to fprime-tutorial-math-component/project.cmake at end of file (yes/no)? yes

Test the build to make sure everything is okay:

# In MathProject/MathDeployment
fprime-util build

Add Component Instances to the Deployment

Create an instance for MathSender in instances.fpp.

# In: MathDeployment/Top/instances.fpp 
# Under: Active component instances 
instance mathSender: MathModule.MathSender base id 0xE00 \
  queue size Default.QUEUE_SIZE \
  stack size Default.STACK_SIZE \
  priority 100

# Under: Queued component instances 
instance mathReceiver: MathModule.MathReceiver base id 0x2700 \
  queue size Default.QUEUE_SIZE

Explanation

This code defines an instance mathSender of component MathSender. It has base identifier 0xE00. FPP adds the base identifier to each the relative identifier defined in the component to compute the corresponding identifier for the instance. For example, component MathSender has a telemetry channel MathOp with identifier 1, so instance mathSender has a command MathOp with identifier 0xE01

The mathReceiver was defined with base identifier 0x2700 and the default queue size.

Update the Topology

Add the instances you created to topology.fpp.

# In: MathDeployment/Top/topology.fpp 
# Under: Instances used in the topology
instance mathSender
instance mathReceiver 

This step highlights the importance of capitalization. The easiest way to differentiate between the component definition and instance is the capitalization.

Explanation

These lines add the mathSender and mathReceiver instances to the topology.

Add Packets

Add packets for MathSender and MathReceiver in MathDeploymentPackets.xml

<!-- In: Top/MathDeploymentPackets.xml -->
<!-- Above: Ignored packets -->
<packet name="MathSender" id="21" level="3">
    <channel name = "mathSender.VAL1"/>
    <channel name = "mathSender.OP"/>
    <channel name = "mathSender.VAL2"/>
    <channel name = "mathSender.RESULT"/>
</packet>
<packet name="MathReceiver" id="22" level="3">
    <channel name = "mathReceiver.OPERATION"/>
    <channel name = "mathReceiver.FACTOR"/>
</packet>

Explanation

These lines describe the packet definitions for the mathSender and mathReceiver telemetry channels.

Check the Build

Just to be safe, check the build after this step.

# In: MathProject/MathDeployment
fprime-util build

Check for Unconnected Ports

Check to make sure all of the ports have been connected:

# In: MathDeployment/Top
fprime-util fpp-check -u unconnected.txt
cat unconnected.txt 

At this point in time, several mathSender and mathReceiver ports (such as mathOpIn or schedIn) are still unconnected. Hence, they should appear on this list.

Go into topology.fpp, connect mathReceiver.schedIn to rate group one using the code below:

# In: Top/topology.fpp 
# Under: connections RateGroups for rateGroup1
rateGroup1.RateGroupMemberOut[3] -> mathReceiver.schedIn

Note: [3] is the next available index in rate group one.

Explanation

This line adds the connection that drives the schedIn port of the mathReceiver component instance.

Verify that you successfully took a port off the list of unconnected ports.

Add the connections between the mathSender and mathReceiver

# In: Top/topology.fpp 
# Under: connections MathDeplyoment 
mathSender.mathOpOut -> mathReceiver.mathOpIn
mathReceiver.mathResultOut -> mathSender.mathResultIn

Test and Run

Re-run the check for unconnected ports: Notice that no mathSender or mathReceiver ports are unconnected.

Go into MathDeploymentTopology.cpp and uncomment loadParameters();. This function is commented by default because it does not exist when the model has no parameters. Since we defined a parameter in MathReceiver, we shall call the function.

// In: MathDeploymentTopology.cpp
// Under: namespace MathDeployment{
loadParameters();

Now it is time to build the entire project and run it! Navigate back to MathDeployment and build:

# In: MathProject/MathDeployment
fprime-util build 

Run the MathComponent deployment through the GDS:

# In: MathProject/MathDeployment
fprime-gds 

If you encounter an error on this step, try running fprime-gds in the MathProject.

Send Some Commands

Under Commanding there is a drop-down menu called “mnemonic”. Click Mnemonic and find mathSender.DO_MATH. When you select DO_MATH, three new option should appear. In put 7 into val1, put 6 into val2, and put MUL into op. Press send command. Navigate to Events (top left) and find the results of your command. You should see The Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything: 42.

For a more detailed guide to the F´ GDS, see the GDS Introduction Guide.

Summary

In this section of the tutorial, you created a deployment. While at it, you filled out the projects instance and topology. These steps are what turn a bunch hard worked code into flight-software. Further more, you ran the software!

Congratulations

You have completed your F’ deployment! If you wish to stop here, you may. You can also rest assured knowing that the work you have done is reusable. In other words, you’ve written code in the same way that you will write code for actual spacecrafts. Except… actual spacecrafts will make extensive use of unit tests and error handling. Keep going in this tutorial to learn more about unit testing, error handling, and just to practice using F’.

Next: Writing Unit Tests Part 1: Creating the Implementation Stub