Real-Time Workshop

Benefits

You can benefit by using Real-Time Workshop in the following applications. This is not an exhaustive list, but a general survey:

• Production Embedded Real-Time Applications

• Real-Time Workshop lets you generate, cross-compile, link, and download production C code for real-time systems (such as controllers or DSP applications) onto your target processor directly from Simulink. You can customize the generated code by inserting S-functions into your model and specifying, via the Target Language Compiler, what the generated code should look like. Using the optimized, automatically generated code, you can focus your coding efforts on specific features of your product, such as device drivers and general device interfacing.

• Rapid Prototyping

• As a rapid prototyping tool, Real-Time Workshop enables you to implement your embedded systems designs quickly, without lengthy hand-coding and debugging. Rapid prototyping is typically used in the software/hardware integration and testing phases of the design cycle enabling you to
  • Conceptualize solutions graphically in a block diagram modeling environment.
  • Evaluate system performance early on - prior to laying out hardware, coding production software, or committing to a fixed design.
  • Refine your design by rapid iteration between algorithm design and prototyping.
  • Tune parameters while your real-time model runs, using Simulink operating in external mode as a graphical front end.

  You can use Real-Time Workshop to generate downloadable, targeted C code that runs on top of a real-time operating system (RTOS). Alternatively, you can generate code to run on the bare hardware at interrupt level, using a simple rate monotonic scheduling executive that you create from examples provided with Real-Time Workshop. There are many rapid prototyping targets provided; or you can create your own.

  During rapid prototyping, the generated code is fully instrumented enabling direct access via Simulink external mode for easy monitoring and debugging. The generated code contains a data structure that encapsulates the details of your model. This data structure is used in the bidirectional connection to Simulink running in external mode. Using Simulink external mode, you can monitor signal and tune parameters to further refine your model in rapid iterations enabling you to achieve desired results quickly.

• Real-Time Simulation

• You can create and execute code for an entire system or specified subsystems for hardware-in-the-loop simulations. Typical applications include training simulators, real-time model validation, and prototype testing.

• Turnkey Solutions

• Bundled Real-Time Workshop targets and third-party turnkey solutions support a variety of control and DSP applications. The target environments include embedded PC, PCI, ISA, VME, and custom hardware, running off-the-shelf real-time operating systems, DOS, or Microsoft Windows. Target system processor architectures include Motorola MC680x0 and PowerPC processors, Intel-80x86 and compatibles, Alpha, and Texas Instruments DSPs. Third-party vendors are regularly adding other architectures. For a current list of third-party turnkey solutions, see the MATLAB Connections Web page: http://www.mathworks.com/products/connections.

  The open environment of Real-Time Workshop also lets you create your own turnkey solution.

• Intellectual Property Protection

• The S-Function Target, in addition to speeding up your simulation, allows you to protect your intellectual property: the designs and algorithms embodied in your models. Using the S-Function Target, you can generate and distribute binaries from your models or subsystems. End users have access to the interface, but not to the body, of your algorithms.

• Rapid Simulations

• The MathWorks tools can be used in the design of most dynamic systems. Generally Simulink is either used to model a high-fidelity dynamic system (e.g., an engine) or a real-time system (such as an engine controller or a signal processing system).

  When modeling high-fidelity systems, you can use Real-Time Workshop to accelerate the design process by speeding up your simulations. This is achieved by using one of the following Real-Time Workshop components:

  • Simulink Accelerator: Creates a dynamically linked library (MEX-file) from code optimized and generated for your specific model configuration. This executable is used in place of the normal interpretive mode of simulation. Typical speed improvements range from 2 to 8 times faster than normal simulation time. Simulink Accelerator supports both fixed and variable step solvers. Simulink Accelerator is part of the Simulink Performance Tools product.
  • Rapid Simulation Target: Creates a stand-alone executable from code optimized and generated for your specific model configuration. This stand-alone executable does not need to interact with a graphics subsystem. Typical speed improvements range from 5 to 20 times faster than normal simulation times. The Rapid Simulation Target is ideal for repetitive (batch) simulations where you are adjusting model parameters or coefficients. Rapid Simulation Target supports only fixed-step solvers.
  • S-Function Target: This target, like Simulink Accelerator, creates a dynamically linked library (MEX-file) from a model. You can incorporate this component into another model using the Simulink S-function block.

Key Features

Integration with Simulink