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  3. Controller Board (MCU)
  4. Compile the Firmware

Compile the Firmware

The firmware can be compiled using IDEs such as MDK-Community Edition or STM32CubeIDE for Visual Studio Code.

This guide explains how to compile the firmware using the command line, which is particularly useful for CI/CD pipelines. It has been tested on Ubuntu 24.04.

  1. Install the dependencies.
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends cmake ninja-build gcc-arm-none-eabi libnewlib-arm-none-eabi
  1. Clone the project repository.
git clone https://gitlab.com/lgdxrobotics/lgdxrobot2-mcu.git
  1. Navigate to the project directory in terminal.
  2. Compile the firmware.
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=./cmake/gcc-arm-none-eabi.cmake -S ./ -B ./build/Release -G Ninja
cmake --build ./build/Release
  1. The firmware file LGDXRobot2.elf is located in the build/Release directory.
  2. Flash the firmware using STM32CubeProgrammer.

Configure

The firmware is designed to be adaptable to different configurations, but it must be customised for your specific setup. Open the project in your IDE and navigate to the Inc/configuration.h file. Change the following variables to match your configuration:

Variable Name Example Value Description
CHASSIS_LX 0.082 Distance from chassis centre to wheel centre in metres (m) along the X-axis (left to right).
CHASSIS_LY 0.104 Distance from chassis centre to wheel centre in metres (m) along the Y-axis (forward direction).
WHEEL_RADIUS 0.0375 Radius of each wheel in metres (m).
ENCODER_PPR 3960 Encoder pulses per revolution; multiply by 4 (e.g. 11×90×4).
MOTOR_GEAR_RATIO 90 Gear ratio of the motor.
MOTOR_MAX_SPEED {10.948,11.424,11.1066,10.6306} Maximum speed of each motor (wheel velocity in ChassisTuner).
PID_LEVEL_VELOCITY {2.0f,5.0f,10.0f} Velocity for each PID level (m/s).
PID_KP {{6,5,6,6},{…},{…}} Proportional gain constant for motor PID control.
PID_KI {{6,5,6,6},{…},{…}} Integral gain constant for motor PID control.
PID_KD {{6,5,6,6},{…},{…}} Derivative gain constant for motor PID control.
MOTOR_SPEED_RAMP 0.1f Speed ramp rate when decelerating the motor (m/s).
ENABLE_POWER_MONITORING N/A Enables INA226 power monitoring; comment out if not used.
POWER_MAXIMUM_CURRENT 15.0f Maximum current limit of the power supply (A). A higher value indicates an open circuit.
POWER_MINIMUM_VOLTAGE 12.0f Minimum operating voltage for the motor power supply (V). A lower value indicates a depleted battery.

Motor numbering starts from 1, and PID levels also start from 1.