xPC Target

Introduction to the Dials & Gauges Blockset

Using the Dials & Gauges blockset as a graphical interface to your target application simplifies and enhances user interaction by providing an alternative to using a command-line interface.

The Dial & Gauges Blockset consists of a library of blocks that you add to your Simulink model. When used with xPC Target, components from the Dials & Gauges Blockset provide a graphical user interface that you use from your host PC. The graphical user interface allows you to change parameters that are then downloaded to your target PC. Other components from the Dials & Gauges Blockset provide animation of data uploaded from the target PC. While you change parameters or view the animation, your target application continues to run in real time.

The Dials & Gauges Blockset includes control blocks and display blocks.

Control blocks -- A control block is a block that you use to provide an input using a mouse or keyboard. For example, a control block could be a slider or a dial. Its output drives other blocks in the target application model and provides a visual display of the output parameters.

Display blocks -- A display block is a block that you use to view signals on your host computer. For example, a display block could be a tachometer or a gauge. A display block receives its input from the target application model and provides a visual display of the input signal.

Dials & Gauges Blockset Blocks

The Dials & Gauges Blockset consists of approximately sixty blocks grouped into the following libraries:

• Alphanumeric displays -- Displays that show the numeric value of the input
• Angular gauges -- Displays that show an input value along the arc of a circle
• Buttons and Switches (toggle)-- Two-state controls that change state when you click them
• Knobs and selectors -- Controls that change their output values when you drag a knob around a circle
• LEDs -- Displays that graphically represent light-emitting diodes
• Linear gauges --Displays that graphically show an input value along a linear line
• Percent indicators -- Displays that show the percentages and ratios of input values from 0 to 100 percent
• Sliders -- Controls that change their output values when you drag a knob along a linear line
• Strip chart -- A display where the input value traces from left to right

This environment allows you to interact with your target application using a user interface while the target application is running in real time on the target PC.

The procedure for using xPC Target with the Dial & Gauges Blockset consists of the following steps:

1. Install software for MATLAB, Simulink, Real-Time Workshop, xPC Target, third-party C compiler, and Dials & Gauges Blockset.
2. Create a Simulink target application model containing model equations describing the dynamic behavior of the application you want to run in real time on the target PC. See Creating a Target Application Model.
3. In your target application model, tag block properties and block signals. See Marking Block Parameters and Marking Block Signals.
4. Create a Simulink user interface model using Dials & Gauges blocks as user interface components (for example, control and display devices). See Creating a User Interface Model and Adding Dials & Gauges Blockset.
5. Create a target application and download it to the target PC. See Creating a Target Application.
6. Start a simulation of the user interface model in nonreal time, and then start the target application running in real time. See Running a Target Application with a User Interface Model.

Interface with Dials & Gauges Blockset

Target Application Model Description