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Two basic development questions

Bill McConnell
Intellectual 960 points

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CONTROLSUITE, MOTORWARE, TMDSHVMTRINSPIN, CCSTUDIO

Hi, I've read lots and lots of great material here and in manuals, bought a kit, spun the proto-motor in the labs, and now that it is time to start custom design, a few questions arose. Background: I am in charge of motor control for a high-end consumer product (tool). The Piccolo series looks like a great match. These questions are so simple that perhaps I've missed the answers, or your development team thought them obvious! Nonetheless:

1. How do I create a development setup that allows TI updates when desired, yet may also be frozen? For instance, in CCS one may create a new workspace, or a new project. There seem to be enough gotchas, that it seems best to start with a lab and modify (or not?).

2. The many tools confuse me, as there seems to be overlap. I started with the eval kit CD, but went on to update CCS, Motorware, ControlSuite (but not the RTOS, was it included?). These questions are related:

      A. Are these packages independent?

      B. Can you give a basic rundown and contrast for each? I read up on them, but, for instance, ControlSuite calls itself "a comprehensive suite of software for C2000 microcontrollers," but the word "comprehensive" seems a little over-reaching.

      C. The ControlSuite guide, SPRUGU2B, is nearly 3 years old and doesn't mention support for TMDSHVMTRINSPIN, though it seemed to be in the download.

Thanks, as always. My motor selection is coming close and the drive design path is nearly due!

  • 0
    TI__Guru** 119680 points

    Hi, Bill.

    I think some of what you are seeing is what happens when a group like our C2000 MCU (including Piccolo) has been in business for over 20 years (and over 10 years on our 28x CPU designs), the tools and collateral get so dense that it's hard to find the right ones for you.  There is a simplicity that many of the newcomers in the MCU / motor space have because there is no legacy! 

    Probably best to answer Q2 first:

    Bill McConnell said:

    2. The many tools confuse me, as there seems to be overlap. I started with the eval kit CD, but went on to update CCS, Motorware, ControlSuite (but not the RTOS, was it included?). These questions are related:

          A. Are these packages independent?

          B. Can you give a basic rundown and contrast for each? I read up on them, but, for instance, ControlSuite calls itself "a comprehensive suite of software for C2000 microcontrollers," but the word "comprehensive" seems a little over-reaching.

      C. The ControlSuite guide, SPRUGU2B, is nearly 3 years old and doesn't mention support for TMDSHVMTRINSPIN, though it seemed to be in the download.

    a) Yes, quite different.

    b) CCStudio = Integrated Development Environment. It support every TI programmable processor for code gen, GUI creation, etc. It is simply a tool that we and our customers must use to create an embedded project.

    controlSUITE = standard "one stop shop" software & documentation infrastructure for C2000, specificaly everything since ~2009.  Many older archived "individual download" software & system docs are avaialble for older MCUs.

    MotorWare = special software & documentation infrastructure for our InstaSPIN-FOC & InstaSPIN-MOTION solutions that run on certain Piccolo devices. The software used here is quite different from standard controlSUITE style.

    c) I can bet you that no one has even thought of that guide in 3 years...I personally didn't even know it existed. Wow!

    We put TMDSHVMTRINSPIN in controlSUITE to advertise its availability / capability. The support as you will see is strictly through MotorWare.  The exact same high voltage inverter is supported through controlSUITE as TMDSHVMTRPFCKIT.  And there is a sister version of the inverter as TMDXHVMTRKIT5X

     

    Bill McConnell said:

    1. How do I create a development setup that allows TI updates when desired, yet may also be frozen? For instance, in CCS one may create a new workspace, or a new project. There seem to be enough gotchas, that it seems best to start with a lab and modify (or not?).

    This depends what you are trying to do.

    If you are using MotorWare, we suggest you work directly out of the MotorWare installation

    C:\ti\motorware\motorware_1_01_00_12

    after you have gone through the labs with a kit, you may want to start your own "main.c" based on a project. You will also eventually want to have your own inverter hardware. So you will simply be setting up the appropriate folders like:

    C:\ti\motorware\motorware_1_01_00_12\sw\solutions\instaspin_foc\boards\myboard
    C:\ti\motorware\motorware_1_01_00_12\sw\solutions\instaspin_foc\boards\myboard\\f28x\f2806xF\projects\ccs5\myproj\

    C:\ti\motorware\motorware_1_01_00_12\sw\solutions\instaspin_foc\src\myproj.c

    etc.

    Then, when we revise the overall MotorWare download (about every 3-4 months) you simply copy your new paths over into new version.

    You can use a different CCStudio workspace also, but we specifically tell you in the instaspin_labs.pdf to NOT copy the files from MotorWare into the workspace as all the linking breaks.  Best to use CCS Workspace as just a working area (and it's required if you want to create/edit GUIComposer projects).

     

    controlSUITE is a little different in that the files aren't scattered and linked. Typically a project has all / most source files in a single location, with maybe a reference to a versioned device support package.

     

  • 0 in reply to ChrisClearman
    Intellectual 960 points

    Thanks for that detailed answer. Hopefully, I have just three more questions and it will be clear(er) sailing.

    1. It sounds like I do not need to download ControlSUITE?

    2. I'm trying to understand one of your sentences, so I'll attempt a rewrite with CHANGES IN CAPS:

    Then, when we revise the overall MotorWare download you simply copy THE NON-MOTORWARE (i.e. CUSTOMIZED) OLD PATH TAIL ENDS IN FILE EXPLORER AND APPEND THEM ON THE NEW MOTORWARE paths, THEN, OPEN THE NEW PROJECT (THAT WAS CREATED BY THE COPY) AND CORRECT ALL YOUR LINKING IN CCS.

    Thanks again.

  • 0 in reply to Bill McConnell
    TI__Guru** 119680 points

    1. If you are using InstaSPIN-FOC or -MOTION, you don't need controlSUITE for software development. Caveats:

    a) we do point to some HW Docs in controlSUITE so that we aren't duplicating them in MotorWare

    b) the "drivers" in MotorWare that aren't used in the existing projects are not 100% complete / functional. We are trying to get these cleaned up this summer, but some customers have had to go to controlSUITE to get a working driver (ex: I2C, CAN, etc.)

     

    2. Someone else just asked a similar question and I gave a more thorough answer:

    http://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/c2000/f/902/p/332326/1159207.aspx#1159207

    let me know if that clarifies.  There are many ways you can choose to to use MotoWare. I think what I've outlined makes the most sense for a customer who will make their own product.