RTI Connext for DDS Blockset - Arm Support Package

Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is the largest software framework provider for Autonomous and Distributed Systems.

Getting Started with RTI Connext for DDS Blockset - Arm Support Package

As developer of the market-leading DDS-based software, RTI is committed to developing tools and accelerators to enable productivity for Connext® users across a variety of platforms. This Arm® support package toolbox is designed to work with the MathWorks DDS Blockset application, which is fully integrated with RTI Connext for easy development of Simulink® applications that can be distributed on a network using DDS for communication. Please view the instructions below and contact [e-mail] if you run into any difficulties.

New RTI Connext Users

RTI Connext must be installed to be able to use this toolbox. If you do not have an existing RTI Connext license, you can download a 30-day trial from https://www.rti.com/free-trial.

You can also access a license via the RTI Connext DDS Connectivity Framework for DDS Blockset Toolbox, which provides the necessary RTI Connext software to cross-compile your Simulink DDS Blockset applications for your specified Arm target device.

Existing RTI Connext Users

If you already have an installation of RTI Connext Professional, you still need to install the Arm Support Package to cross-compile your Simulink DDS Blockset applications. In this case, you need to make sure that the NDDSHOME environment is correctly set to a supported version:

(1) Define NDDSHOME at the OS level before running MATLAB

(2) Inside MATLAB by calling setenv(). The NDDSHOME environment should point to the RTI Connext Professional installation path. You can find the default paths here.

If you use the second approach you should also modify your startup.m file so NDDSHOME is properly set each time you restart MATLAB:

2.1 Open the user startup.m file

edit(fullfile(userpath,'startup.m'))

2.2 Set NDDSHOME environment variable pointing to the RTI Connext Professional installation directory. For example:

setenv("NDDSHOME", "/opt/rti_connext_dds-6.1.2")

If you already have an RTI Connext target package for armv7Linux4gcc7.5.0 or armv8Linux4gcc7.3.0, those libraries will be used.

Prerequisites

This toolbox assumes that you have the following cross compilers correctly installed, and they are reachable in the PATH:

Windows® Systems:

• Arm 32 bits: arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-gcc and arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-g++
• Arm 64 bits: aarch64-none-linux-gnu-gcc and aarch64-none-linux-gnu-g++

Linux® Systems:

• Arm 32 bits: arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc and arm-linux-gnueabihf-g++
• Arm 64 bits: aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc and aarch64-linux-gnu-g++

Building Simulink Models for Arm

This toolbox installs two new toolchains that allow the software to build the Simulink® model for Arm hardware (32 and 64 bits). It currently supports armv7Linux4gcc7.5.0 and armv8Linux4gcc7.3.0. These two new toolchains will appear while configuring the DDS Blockset in Simulink, or by clicking in the ‘Quick Start’ button of the DDS Blockset:

Depending on the toolchain selected, the corresponding RTI architecture will be used to build your Simulink application:

• RTI Connext 6.x for Arm 32 bits: armv7Linux4gcc7.5.0
• RTI Connext 6.x for Arm 64 bits: armv8Linux4gcc7.3.0

When cross-compiling for Arm, ensure that gmake/make is available in the PATH. In Windows systems, this may not be the case. If that's so, the RTI Connext for DDS Blockset - Arm Support Package will utilize the gmake version included in the MATLAB installation, for example: <MATLAB path>\bin\win64\gmake.exe.

If you prefer to specify a different gmake installation, set the environment variable CONNEXT_ARM_TOOLBOX_GMAKE_PATH to point to the desired gmake executable and then configure the RTI Connext for DDS Blockset - Arm Support Package again:

setenv('CONNEXT_ARM_TOOLBOX_GMAKE_PATH', '<Path_to_gmake.exe>');

configure_rti_connext_dds_arm();

Tested toolchains and platforms

The following list outlines the combinations of tested toolchains and platforms compatible with the RTI Connext for DDS Blockset - Arm Support Package toolbox. While the listed combinations have been verified, there are other toolchains and operating systems that should also work with this toolbox.

Arm 32 bits:

• OS: Raspberry Pi OS 32 bits based on debian Bookworm
• Toolchain: gcc-arm-10.3-2021.07-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf

Arm 64 bits:

• OS: Raspberry Pi OS 64 bits based on debian Bullseye
• Toolchain: gcc-arm-10.2-2020.11-mingw-w64-i686-aarch64-none-linux-gnu
• OS: Raspberry Pi OS 64 bits based on debian Bookworm
• Toolchain: gcc-arm-10.3-2021.07-mingw-w64-i686-aarch64-none-linux-gnu

If you encounter any issues using this toolbox with a specific combination of toolchain and OS, please contact us at [e-mail].

Deployment

This Arm Support Package generates an Arm executable for Arm 7 or Arm 8 that you need to copy to your device. This executable requires the XML file that is also generated (for example shapesdemo_1.xml). And you may also need to deploy the license file which is located in $NDDSHOME/rti_license.dat.

You can check where $NDDSHOME is pointing to:

getenv('NDDSHOME')

License

The RTI Connext for DDS Blockset - Arm Support Package includes an evaluation version of the Connext libraries for Arm architecture. If you already have those libraries and a corresponding RTI Connext license, you can use those libraries and license for the RTI Connext for DDS Blockset - Arm Support Package toolbox. Please contact RTI if you need a production version of the RTI Connext Arm libraries.

Description

RTI Connext is a suite of software based on the Data Distribution Service standard (DDS) that enables applications to securely share information in real time and work as one integrated system. Connext provides a comprehensive software library, a set of development and monitoring tools, and many infrastructure services that support use cases including data record and replay, connect systems across wide area networks, bridge to other protocols, and integrate with cloud systems environments.

The MathWorks® DDS Blockset application is fully integrated with RTI Connext for easy development of Simulink applications that can be distributed on a network using DDS for communication. DDS Blockset provides engineers with DDS custom blocks to model DDS communication between Simulink and pure DDS applications without custom coding. System designers and application developers can incorporate RTI Connext into their Simulink designs as virtual components, ready to connect to other Simulink and non-Simulink components through the DDS databus. Users can generate code from Simulink models and deploy their models integrated with RTI Connext.

Features

RTI Connext Professional features:

• Fundamental communication pattern optimization in intelligent distributed systems including data-centric publish-subscribe, request-reply and queuing
• Fully compliant with the OMG® DDS for Real-Time Systems standard, including the DDS API and wire interoperability protocol (DDSI-RTPS)
• Superior performance for distributed applications through features such as zero-copy, Flat Data and data batching
• Routing Service for simplified bridging between data domains
• Recording Service to record and replay activity on the databus
• Monitoring and debugging tools to speed application development and deployment
• Data and network-level security. Authentication, Access Control, Integrity, message-level encryption, and data-level encryption (requires Connext DDS Secure).
• Additional specifications available at www.rti.com/products/connext-6