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Miscellaneous tools for FC management

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Jonathan Hudson edited this page Jun 5, 2022 · 4 revisions

mwp Miscellaneous Tools

Obsolete article Please check the [manual](https://stronnag.github.io/mwptools/) for more up-to-date information.

Overview

This documents a number of command line tools that are provided by mwptools. Note that not all these tools are built or installed by default; it may be necessary to enter a source directory and invoke make && sudo make install or ninja in situ, or copy a script to a directory on $PATH.

mwp-uploader

Simple standalone uploader for iNav / MultiWii compatible mission files.

mwp-uploader performs the upload (optionally save to eeprom) and validation of XML (mwp, ezgui, Mission Planner for iNav) and JSON (mwp) mission files to an iNav or MultiWii flight controller.

$ ./mwp-uploader --help
Usage:
  mwp-uploader [OPTION?]  - Mission UPloader

Help Options:
  -h, --help        Show help options

Application Options:
  -b, --baud        baud rate
  -d, --device      device
  -m, --mission     mission file
  -s, --save=false  save to eeprom

By default, output is logger to STDERR and a result message written to STDOUT. The exit status is set to 0 if the upload was successful and 1 if not. If STDERR is redirected, then the output is redirected (appended) to the standard mwp log file, mwp_stderr_YYYY-MM-DD.txt.

This may be used in scripts, for example:

 RES=$(./mwp-uploader -m ~/Projects/quads/missions/jtest.mission  -s 2> /dev/null)
 if [ $? = 0 ] ; then
  echo $RES
 else
  echo "Upload failed, please see log file mwp_stderr_$(date +%F).log"
 fi

If no device is given, mwp-uploader will try to auto-detect the FC.

$ mwp-uploader -m nm_multi2.mission
2018-03-28T16:15:04+0100 No device given ... watching
2018-03-28T16:15:04+0100 Opening /dev/ttyUSB0
2018-03-28T16:15:05+0100 WP: 48
2018-03-28T16:15:05+0100 Mission validated
2018-03-28T16:15:05+0100 WP_GETINFO: 48/60/1
uploaded 48/60 WP, valid

fc-get / fc-set

fc-get and fc-set are tools to manage CLI settings:

  • fc-get dump cli diff settings to a file that can be replayed by fc-set

  • fc-set replay a file of cli settings to the FC. Once the settings have been saved, a backup is made of the original file; the settings are then read from the FC and the original file updated.

$ fc-set --help
Usage:
  fc-set [OPTION?]  - fc diff manager

Help Options:
  -h, --help        Show help options

Application Options:
  -b, --baud        baud rate
  -d, --device      device
  -n, --no-back     no back
Note
 fc-get and fc-set are essentially the same program, the function is defined by the name. 
$ fc-get /tmp/dodo-test.txt
12:16:04 No device given ... watching
12:16:04 Opening /dev/ttyUSB0
12:16:04 Establishing CLI
12:16:05 Starting "diff all"
12:16:06 Exiting
12:16:06 Rebooting

Then, maybe after flashing the FC to a new version:

$ fc-set /tmp/dodo-test.txt
12:16:56 No device given ... watching
12:16:56 Opening /dev/ttyUSB0
12:16:56 Starting restore
12:16:56 Establishing CLI
12:16:58 [████████████████████████████████] 100%
12:16:58 Rebooting
12:17:01 Establishing CLI
12:17:03 Starting "diff all"
12:17:03 Exiting
12:17:03 Rebooting

And now we have a settings backup …​

$ ls -l /tmp/dodo*
-rw-r----- 1 jrh jrh 2115 Mar 28 12:17 /tmp/dodo-test.txt
-rw-r----- 1 jrh jrh 2115 Mar 28 12:16 /tmp/dodo-test.txt.2018-03-28T12.17.01

flash.sh

A shell script to flash new firmware to an FC. See the comments in the script as to third party dependencies (stm32flash, dfu-util).

$ flash.sh inav_1.9.1_SPRACINGF3.hex # uses stm32flash / USB
$ # ...
$ flash.sh inav_1.9.1_MATEKF405.hex # uses dfu-util / VCP

see also https://github.com/fiam/msp-tool for another tool to simplify flashing.

flashdl

flashdl is a tool to download blackbox logs from on-board flash. If you’re doing this on a VCP board, it will download much faster then the apparent baud rate indicates. If you’re using a non-VCP board, then consider using flash_dump.rb which can temporarily alter the baudrate to achieve faster rates using CLI (vice MSP) commands.

In the following example, I use test mode because the flash is empty. Normally you would not set TEST_USED or use the -t (test) flag.

$ TEST_USED=$((1024*1600)) flashdl -t
13:11:46 Opened /dev/ttyACM0
13:11:46 Entering test mode for 1.6MB
13:11:46 Data Flash 1638400 /  2097152 (78%)
13:11:46 Downloading to BBL_2018-03-28_131146.TXT
[████████████████████████████████] 1.6MB/1.6MB 100% 0s
13:12:17 1638400 bytes in 31s, 52851 bytes/s
$
$ # normally
$ # flashdl
$ # or
$ # flashdl -e # erase after downloading

Note that the FC device is auto-detected.

Note also that the download speed is approximately 5 times greater than one would expect from the nominal baud rate (115200 ~= 10800 bytes/sec).

flash_dump.rb

flash_dump.rb is another tool for downloading blackbox logs from on-board flash. Whereas flashdl uses MSP, flash_dump.rb uses CLI commands and is thus rather more fragile.

  • It allows the temporary use of higher baud rates on USB (e.g. 921600).

  • Requires the F3 or better FC

  • If it fails, you will have to reset the baud rate via the CLI, as the configurator will not connect > 115200 baud.

$ flash_dump.rb --help

flash_dump.rb [options] file
Download bb from flash
    -s, --serial-device=DEV
    -e, --erase
    -E, --erase-only
    -o, --output=FILE
    -b, --baud=RATE
    -B, --super-baud=RATE
    -?, --help                       Show this message

Unlike flashdl which auto-detects serial ports, flash_dump.rb tries /dev/ttyUSB0 and /dev/ttyACM0, or the device given with -d. The "super baud" rate must be specified to use a faster rate than the FC default:

$ flash_dump.rb -B 921600
/dev/ttyUSB0
Changing baud rate to 921600
Found "serial 0 1 115200 38400 115200 115200"
setting serial 0 1 921600 38400 115200 115200
Reopened at 921600
Size = 1638400
read 1638400 / 1638400 100%    0s
Got 1638400 bytes in 18.8s 87268.8 b/s
Exiting

After the download has completed, the serial port is reset to the prior configured bayd rate (typically 115200). Note the very high speed of the download, 87268 bytes /sec; this is almost 9 times faster than the standard baud (and 9x the speed of using the configurator with a USB board).

Should the download fail and the board serial is not reset automatically, it will be necessary to manually reset UART1, possibly using cliterm.

So, had the above failed, it could be rescued by pasting in the "Found" item above:

$ cliterm -b 921600
open /dev/ttyUSB0

Entering CLI Mode, type 'exit' to return, or 'help'

# serial 0 1 115200 38400 115200 115200

# save
Saving
Rebooting

cliterm

cliterm is a simple terminal program for interacting with the iNav CLI. Unlike alternative tools (picocom, minicom etc.), it will auto-detect the FC serial device, uses 115200 as the baud rate and, by default, automatically enters the CLI.

$ cliterm --help
Usage:
  cliterm [OPTION?]  - cli tool

Help Options:
  -h, --help                            Show help options

Application Options:
  -b, --baud=115200                     baud rate
  -d, --device                          device
  -n, --noinit=false                    noinit
  -f, --file                            file
  -m, --eolmode=[cr,lf,crlf,crcrlf]     eol mode

The options -n (don’t enter CLI automatically) and -m may be useful when accessing other devices (for example a 3DR radio, HC-12 radio or ESP8266) in command mode.

cliterm understands Ctrl-D as "quit CLI without saving". You should quit cliterm with Ctrl-C, having first exited the CLI in the FC (save, exit, Ctrl-D).

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