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The purpose of the collection of telemetry packet writer classes is to format bit-packed fields into telemetry packet buffers to be sent out of the instrument. These classes are produced by a code-generator. This section describes the template for these classes.
The details of the telemetry packet formats are shown in the "ACIS Instrument Program and Command List," MIT 36-01410 (IP&CL).
All generated telemetry writers are a subclass of Protocols::TlmForm (see Section TBD). The name of a given telemetry packet writer class is the name of the record type, as listed in the IP&CL, with spaces replaced with underscores, and prepended with the name Tf_.
FIGURE 99. Telemetry Packet Writer Relationships
Protocols::TlmForm - This class is a member of the Protocols class category and represents a generic telemetry packet formatter. It provides functions used by its subclasses to determine the xxx. This class is described in more detail in Section TBD.
Tf_[IPCL_Record_Name] - This represents a generic template for the various types of telemetry packet formatter classes, where "[IPCL_Record_Name]" is the name of the telemetry packet record definition within the IP&CL database (spaces within the record name are replaced with "_" in the class name). Each class definition provides a member function which returns the number of words in the packet (getWordCount) and one member function for each field defined within the record but are not part of a variable length array (put_[IPCL_Field_Name], put_[IPCL_Indexed_Field_Name]). For fields which are part of a fixed length array, this member function takes a single index argument, indicating which element of the array to read. If a field defines a variable length array at the end of a packet, the class contains a member function which appends all elements of the field to the end of the packet (append_[IPCL_Field_Name]). If the field's data type is another record, the function arguments consist of the fields within the defined record. If a telemetry packet is variable in length, the class contains member functions which indicate if the packet has had any data appended to it (hasData), and whether or not the packet has room for any more data (isFull).
This section lists some of the assumptions made by the command packet and parameter block reader classes.
Two approaches were considered when building the code-generator. One is to have the code-generator produce already customized code, which optimally writes fields to the packet's output buffer. The other approach has the code-generator producing standard code which relies on the compiler to optimize of the inline expansions of putField() member function calls. The current design takes the second approach.
The general form for every put_[IPCL_Field_Name] function consists of the following:
putField(value, BITOFFSET, BITWIDTH, BITMASK, index, ARRAYWIDTH); return;
Where value is the value to store into the telemetry buffer, BITOFFSET is the bit position of the field from the start of the packet or block. If the field is within an array, BITOFFSET is the offset to the field within the first array element. BITWIDTH is the number of bits in the field and must be less than or equal to 32. BITMASK is a right-justified mask of the field (1's correspond to bits in the field). If the field is within an array, index is an argument which selects which array element to access and ARRAYWIDTH is the number of bits within one element of the array. If the field is not within an array, index and ARRAYWIDTH will be zero set to 0 by the code-generator.
The code-generator produces constants for all parameters to putField() except value and index. Given an appropriately written putField() member function, the compiler's optimizer can very efficient code when it is expanded.
The approach used to append items to the end of a telemetry packet is similar to that taken to write a value into the middle of the packet buffer, except that the append_[IPCL_Field_Name] functions may append entire records to the end of the buffer.
The general form for each append_[IPCL_Field_Name] function consists of one call to appendField() for each subfield in the structure being appended. The subfields are appended in the order they appear in the appended structure.
Hierarchy:
Superclasses:
TlmForm
Public Interface:
Operations:
append_[IPCL_Field_Name]() hasData() isFull() put_[IPCL_Field_Name]() put_[IPCL_Indexed_Field_Name]() setEmpty()
Private Interface:
Has-A Relationships:
Arguments:
unsigned or int subfield1
unsigned or int subfield2
...
Documentation:
This function appends the elements of the indicated field to the end of the telemetry packet buffer. Each passed argument corrresponds to each subfield of the appended structure.
Arguments:
unsigned or int value
Documentation:
This function writes the passed value into the telemetry packet buffer to the indicated bit-field. If the field is unsigned, the value argument is an unsigned number. If the field is signed, then value is passed as a signed integer.
Arguments:
unsigned or int value
unsigned index
Documentation:
This function writes the passed value into the telemetry packet buffer to the indicated array field. If the field is unsigned, the value argument is an unsigned number. If the field is signed, then value is passed as an signed integer. Index indicates into which array element to store the value.
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