GUI Guider + FreeMASTER for Motor Control

Overview

Integrating GUI Guider with FreeMASTER for motor control simplifies the development of debugging interfaces by enabling engineers to construct UIs with drag-and-drop tools instead of writing extensive UI code. This reduces development time and makes debugging interfaces more intuitive and easier to use.

FreeMASTER is a real-time debugging monitor and data visualization tool for monitoring and debugging embedded systems. GUI Guider allows embedded engineers to design debugging UIs with drag-and-drop and to implement application code in C. GUI Guider supports host-side simulation for remote debugging of embedded applications on the target, and it supports binding variables to widgets as well as reading and writing FreeMASTER variables.

This article describes how to generate a GUI with GUI Guider and integrate FreeMASTER to control a motor.

Hardware

FRDM-MCXN947
FRDM-MC-LVPMSM
PMSM brushless DC motor

Software

FreeMASTER 3.2
GUI Guider 1.7.0 or later
MCUXpresso IDE 11.9.0

1. FreeMASTER: New Project Variable Import and Board Connection

After creating a new FreeMASTER project, import the variables from the application code and bind them to corresponding variables in FreeMASTER. The common approach is to import variables from the ELF file and to connect using one of two common methods (choose one):

Use a serial line or a USB-to-serial converter (this requires serial configuration in the firmware)
Connect via a debugger probe interface (commonly used)

ELF file generation and import:

In MCUXpresso IDE, right-click the project -> Properties -> Settings to configure the build so that the ELF file is generated.

The generated ELF file is located in the project directory: C:Usersxg04589DocumentsMCUXpressoIDE_11.9.0_2144workspacelvdsimulatorbuildinsimulator.exe, and can be used to control the motor through the GUI.

Summary

Combining FreeMASTER and GUI Guider enables convenient monitoring and control of the motor controller on the FRDM-MCXN947 development board, improving development efficiency and debugging accuracy. This integrated approach simplifies the development workflow and makes the debugging process more intuitive and interactive.