Eos Payload Module

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About

Eos is the software platform for Georgia Tech's "Lightning from the Edge of Space" high-altitude ballooning project under the VIP program. This module defines the payload software.

Installation

1. Install python >= 3.10 and add to PATH
2. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/VIP-LES/EosPayload.git
3. Initialize virtual env: python -m venv venv (PyCharm can also do this for you)
4. Run source ./venv/bin/activate (linux / mac) or .\venv\Scripts\activate (windows). You'll have to do this every time you want to enter the venv.
5. Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt. On Windows where some dependencies can't be installed, this command may be useful: FOR /F %k in (requirements.txt) DO ( if NOT # == %k ( pip install %k ) )
6. Install Eclipse Mosquitto: https://mosquitto.org/download/

Note: to exit the venv, run deactivate

Mosquitto MQTT

EosPayload relies on the mosquitto MQTT broker for communication between devices. When you install mosquitto you get 3 command line tools:

• mosquitto - run the server. Use -v to log requests to console.
  Windows Example: C:\Program Files\mosquitto -v
  Mac Example: brew services start mosquitto -v
• mosquitto_sub - a simple topic subscriber tool that is useful for seeing what MQTT messages are being published.
  Windows example: "C:\Program Files\mosquitto\mosquitto_sub.exe" -V 5 -q 2 -t # -v
• mosquitto_pub - a simple message publish tool that is also useful for sending test MQTT messages to your device. Windows example: "C:\Program Files\mosquitto\mosquitto_pub.exe" -t "health/heartbeat" -m "yo" -q 2

Note: for the sub/pub tools to work on Mac you may need to run brew link mosquitto first

More info on the command line tools can be found here: https://mosquitto.org/man/

Running EosPayload

Pre-req: Start the MQTT server by running mosquitto (see above)

From Terminal

1. Navigate to your EosPayload repository root using the cd command (all OS's)
2. Enter your venv (see command above)
3. Run python -m EosPayload

From PyCharm

1. Create a new Python Run Configuration
2. Set the script path to {repository root}\EosPayload\__main__.py
3. Set the python interpreter to the Python 3.10 from your venv
4. Set the working directory to your EosPayload repository root
5. Run the configuration

Output

• Driver data logged via the provider DriverBase function is output into <device-id>.dat
• Driver log messages are output into <device-id>.log
• OrchEOStrator logs are output into orchEOStrator.log
• All log messages are output to the terminal / pycharm console stderr stream

Development

General

• Do not commit directly to main. You must create an issue, make a branch, make a PR, and get it reviewed and approved.
• If you make a PR for the first time, add yourself to CONTRIBUTORS.md in your PR.

Adding Drivers

• Add all new drivers to EosPayload/drivers.
• You must extend DriverBase or a derivative of DriverBase, which provide several functions out-of-the-box to simplify development and multithreading.
• Keep the driver runner code tidy. Consider making a file or module in EosPayload/Lib to put your logic
• DriverBase allows for multithreaded drivers. Most drivers will need to spawn at least one extra thread. See the docstring for DriverBase.register_thread()

Configuring Payload and Drivers

Each Payload is configured with a JSON file, by default it is stored at config.json, though a custom path can be set with the -c field when you run EosPayload. Currently top level fields are unused, and each device is configured using an entry in the devices list.

A minimal device config requires:

Field	Value
driver_class	The Python class that will be used to spawn the device
device_id	A unique value of EosLib.device.Device
enabled	true or false, to enable or disable the device

Additionally, the following optional fields are available:

Field	Value
name	A plaintext name that overrides the auto-generated name
settings	A JSON dict of settings that are passed to the driver class

Adding Dependencies

• In your terminal in your venv, run pip install <your dependency>
• Run pip freeze and compare the result to requirements.txt. Add any new lines from the pip freeze output to the requirements.txt file
• You should now be able to import <your dependency> in your EosPayload python files
• To bump the EosLib version, run pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall git+https://github.com/VIP-LES/EosLib@vX.Y.Z#egg=EosLib (replace X.Y.Z with the version number)

Debugging

Pycharm allows you to set breakpoints and inspect variables mid-execution. Reference the "Run From PyCharm" instructions above, but run the configuration in debug mode

Docker Installation/Use

If you plan to install/use EosPayload via docker, you can ignore all the above steps. Instead, follow these:

1. Install Docker (Instructions here)
2. Install Docker compose (Instructions here)
3. Clone the repo: git clone https://github.com/VIP-LES/EosPayload.git
4. Run docker compose up
5. Everything should install and run automatically

Configuring BeagleBone Pins

If you need to change the default pin behavior, you can add config-pin commands to beaglebone_pin_setup/pin_setup.sh, which runs on startup