ALF - Application Loading Framework

The Application Loading Framework (ALF) provides us with a means to remotely reboot the cRIO as well as reload our robot code's kernel module without having to reboot the cRIO. Being able to update the currently running C++ code without waiting for the cRIO to reboot drastically speeds up our development cycle and increases our productivity.

Dependencies

There are no dependencies for this module. It can be built with either Wind River or the C++11 Toolchain as both builds function properly.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to get ALF running on your FIRST FRC cRIO controller.

Compile the Software

This software has been tested using both the FIRST FRC Wind River Workbench (GCC 3.4.4 for powerpc-wrs-vxworks) toolchain and the new GCC 4.8.2 toolchain for powerpc-wrs-vxworks. Makefiles for the latter are included in the project. The project can be built in Wind River by importing the project's folder into a workspace and selecting "Build Project" from the "Project" drop-down menu.

Upload the Binary

Building the software will generate a binary with the extension ".out" . This binary should uploaded by FTP to the path "/c/ni-rt/system/ALF.out" on the cRIO controller.

Edit ni-rt.ini

An entry must also be added into the "/c/ni-rt.ini" configuration file on the cRIO controller for the module to be loaded at startup. The ni-rt.ini file should be downloaded, edited, and the modified version uploaded. The file should be modified as follows:

Locate the "LVRT" section.

[LVRT]
StartupDLLs="debug.o;nisysrpc.out;NiRioRpc.out;nivissvc.out;nivision.out;visa32.out;niserial.out;NiFpgaLv.out;FRC_FPGA.out;FRC_NetworkCommunication.out;FRC_UserProgram.out;"

Add ALF.out to the StartupDLLs value.

StartupDLLs="debug.o;nisysrpc.out;NiRioRpc.out;nivissvc.out;nivision.out;visa32.out;niserial.out;NiFpgaLv.out;FRC_FPGA.out;FRC_NetworkCommunication.out;ALF.out;FRC_UserProgram.out;"

Restart the System

ALF should begin running at the system's next restart.

Usage

To call commands from ALF, one can connect to the robot on port 3512 using any Telnet client, such as PuTTY. The following commands are supported:

1) reboot
    * Reboots the cRIO
2) reload
    * Reloads the currently running robot code kernel module
3) save
    * Saves the currently running robot code kernel module for falling back to it later
4) fallback
    * Loads the robot code kernel module previously saved by ALF's 'save' command
5) listTasks
    * Lists the tasks currently running on the cRIO with some extra information

To use the backspace key for deleting characters in the Telnet console instead of Control-H, run tyBackspaceSet(127).