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This section defines important terms related to matrix and frame-based signals.
Matrices, Vectors, and Scalars
This document uses the unqualified words scalar and vector in ways that emphasize a signal's number of elements, not its strict dimension properties:
In cases when it is important for a description or schematic to distinguish among different types of scalar signals or different types of vector signals, this document mentions the distinctions explicitly. For example, the terms one-dimensional array, column vector, and row vector distinguish among three types of vector signals.
The size of a matrix is the pair of numbers that indicate how many rows and columns the matrix has. The orientation of a two-dimensional vector is its status as either a row vector or column vector. A one-dimensional array has no orientation.
A matrix signal that has more than one row and more than one column is called a full matrix signal.
Frame-Based and Sample-Based Signals
In Simulink, each matrix signal has a frame attribute that declares the signal to be either frame-based or sample-based, but not both. (A one-dimensional array signal is always sample-based, by definition.) Simulink indicates the frame attribute visually by using a double connector line in the model window instead of a single connector line. In general, Simulink interprets frame-based and sample-based signals as follows:
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