HG-PX4 Example Lab 3: Building Code

Compiling our new example code into PX4

Building our code to run on the FMU

Now that we have prepared two applications for use on our drone, we want to run them in order to confirm that they work.

We can test and debug code like this in a few different ways:

• using SITL (software in the loop) in a simulation environment like Gazebo or AirSim. The code is running on a simulated flight controller. Fast to iterate and test unusual conditions in a safe way. Only the simulated hardware crashes, not a real drone! Sometimes not representative of real-world environment however.

• using HITL (hardware in the loop) where the code is actually running on target hardware, but all the sensor and IO is attached to the simulation environment. It is more complicated to configure than SITL, but can expose things like processor or system hardware limitations or bottlenecks.

• on the actual hardware, which is closest to reality, but slower and more dangerous to fully test.

When testing code for complex systems like drones, SITL is good practice because you can make sure it works properly and look for failure conditions in advance of loading it on a real physcial drone. This helps prevent accidents! However since we're just reading sensor measurements and publishing LED commands, we can't really harm our drone, so we're going to go the "real hardware" route. This will also give you experience in loading code to the FMU.

Adding our code to the local PX4 project

In order to build our code in PX4, we place the code in the correct location with the necessary supporting files. Lets take the hg_led example from Lab 2. Save the source code you wrote to a file named hg_led.c as seen here:

CMakeLists.txt

Now place this file into a folder also named hg_led. Your folder name should usually match your main file's name. Next create a text file called CMakeLists.txt that will tell cmake how to build our application. Inside our CMakeLists.txt file, add the following code:

px4_add_module(
    MODULE examples__hg_led
    MAIN hg_led
    STACK_MAIN 2000
    SRCS
        hg_led.c
    DEPENDS
    )

Lets explain what's going on here:

• px4_add_module(): This tells cmake that we are adding a new module (or application) to the firmware.

• MODULE: examples__hg_led tells cmake that this application is located in the Firmware/src/examples folder. If you add an application to another source folder, you essentially write <folder_name>__<app_name>.

• MAIN: This tells cmake what the main function name is. This is your application name. In this case, it's hg_led.

• SRCS: Add the names of your source files under this parameter.

• DEPENDS: If your application depends on another application, add them here. Since our application is an independent program there are no other file dependencies listed here.

Now that we have our CMakeLists.txt file configured, we also have to tell PX4 to build it for our board. First, we need to move or copy our hg_led folder containing the source files and the CMakeLists.txt that we created into the Firmware/src/examples/ directory. It should look like this:

Navigate to Firmware/boards/nxp/fmuk66-v3/default.cmake and add hg_led to the list under EXAMPLES. All of these examples listed here will be built into your PX4 image and will be able to be called from the command line on the FMU when running! Your EXAMPLES parameter should now look something like this:

    EXAMPLES
        fixedwing_control # Tutorial code from https://px4.io/dev/example_fixedwing_control
        hello
        hg_led # Our example application!
        hwtest # Hardware test
        #matlab_csv_serial
        px4_mavlink_debug # Tutorial code from http://dev.px4.io/en/debug/debug_values.html
        px4_simple_app # Tutorial code from http://dev.px4.io/en/apps/hello_sky.html
        rover_steering_control # Rover example app
        uuv_example_app
        work_item

Building PX4 and flashing the board

Now that we've added our new application to PX4, let's build our new firmware by running this command in our terminal: make nxp_fmuk66-v3

If you were targeting another board, for example the UCANS32K146, you would just substitute that board name instead of nxp_fmuk66-v3.

Hint: Since the command line supports "tab completion". if you type part of the name and press tab, the valid and correct board options will then show.

After entering the make command, the software will start building. Assuming no errors or failures, you should see an output similar to this once it's done. (If there is a failure, read the output carefully, often it is something simple that needs correction like a missing ";" at the end of a line of C code.):

Now, you can navigate to /Firmware/build/nxp_fmuk66-v3_default/ to find your *.px4 file which you can flash to your RDDRONE-FMUK66 using QGroundControl! (or a .bin file via the Segger JLINK SWD debugger tools.)