fsfw-from-zero/ws-objects-tmtc/README.md

Object Manager

The FSFW is an object-oriented framework and uses the concept of classes and objects to model the satellite. Usually, every non-trivial object in the flight software is assigned a 32-bit object ID. This ID is then used as an address field for various command types.

The framework also has a global singleton class to store global objects and retrieve them back in an arbitrary format (e.g. only a certain interface of an object) at a later point.

The required interface of a class to be compatible to the object manager is the SystemObjectIF. The SystemObject class is a base class implementing this interface which is implemented by most base classes in the framework.

1. Creating a user SystemObject

In this chapter, a custom class will be created which is insertable into the global object manager.

Subtasks

1. Create a custom class MySystemObject which implements the SystemObject base class. Use the object ID 0x10101010. The second argument of the SystemObject constructor can be used to disable object manager registration. Use it to do exactly that.
2. Override the initialize function and print out a test string in the function.
3. Create a dynamic instance of that class on the heap using the new keyword.
4. Print out the object ID in hex format with 8 digits. You can use the iostream manipulators setw, setfill and hex to do this. You need to include the iomanip C++ system header t ouse those.
5. Call the initialize function of your dynamic object
6. Explicitely delete your global object. Forgetting to delete dynamic resources in C++ is generally a resource leak because the memory claimed for creating that dynamic resource can not be re-used by the OS.

Hints

• The SystemObject base class receives its object ID information by constructor argument. Every base (parent) class which does not have a default (empty) constructor needs to be initialized by the child class constructor. You can do this in the child class constructor member initializer list

Notes on memory and resource management

In desktop programs, it is very common to simply dynamically allocate all required resources as they are required. It should be noted that dynamic memory allocation can show non-deterministic behaviour, which is non-favorable in real-time environments. Especially on smaller systems, where the RAM might be limited to something like for example 1 MB, one has to be really careful with dynamic memory management to not run out of memory during run-time. A possible side-effect of running out of memory would be that the allocation can take a possibly infinite time. Another side-effect which is probably more common is that the allocation simply fails and a nullptr is returned, which causes the application to crash unless every allocation call is checked.

Omitting dynamic memory allocation altogether is not really a acceptable solution either unless dealing with really, REALLY (!) small systems like a PIC microcontroller. A good solution is to limit the dynamic memory allocation to the program initialization time and only use pre-allocated memory during run-time. This is what the FSFW or real time OSes like RTEMS generally promote and support.

It is also important to keep in mind that std library containers generally allocate dynamically when inserting new entries.

2. Initialize the object using the ObjectManager

The SystemObject base class will take care of automatically registering the object at the global object manager as part of its constructor. The object manager stores all inserted objects by the SystemObject base class pointer inside a hash map, so all inserted objects can be retrieved at a later stage. The object manager is also able to call the initialize method of all its registered objects.

Subtasks

1. Register the MySystemObject class into the global object manager. You can do this with a simple tweak of the base class constructor.
2. Remove the delete call. The object manager will delete all of its contained objects automatically in its own destructor
3. Retrieve the global instance of the object manager using its static instance method and use it to initialize all system objects including your custom system object.