Newsletters Feb 2007

Feb 2007

OPTI-NUM solutions would like to wish you an exciting and productive 2007 and hope that you enjoy this newsletter - our first for 2007. OPTI-NUM solutions continues to adapt to most effectively meet the needs of the Southern African technical community. To this end, we continue to grow our team, in an effort to better support you. Recent additions to our team include Penny in the marketing and administration team and Neil in our Applications Engineering team.

This edition of the newsletter provides you with information on a broad range of topics, from using MATLAB code in Simulink, to creating your own MathWorks account, and how public-private partnerships are accelerating the delivery of new drugs to the world markets. As always, you will find information on our upcoming seminars, training courses, and Webinars hosted by The MathWorks. We value your feedback, so please contact us with any queries and/or suggestions.

The OPTI-NUM Solutions team.

Technical Articles

Simulink: Embedded MATLAB function block

Simulink is a platform for multidomain simulation and Model-Based Design for dynamic systems. It provides an interactive graphical environment that is ideal for representing the system architecture through hierarchy and logical partitioning. Simulink has a rich set of block sets that can be used to implement complex algorithms quickly. However, some algorithms are not represented efficiently solely in a block diagram. These typically involve complex matrix computation or mathematical equations.

The Simulink Embedded MATLAB Function block lets you simulate embedded algorithms written using the MATLAB language and then deploy them using the Real-Time Workshop. For example, one can implement an extended Kalman Filter requiring matrix computations as a concise MATLAB function, as shown in the figure on the right.

Why Use Embedded MATLAB Function Blocks?

• Embedded MATLAB Function blocks can build standalone simulation applications - To support code generation in Real-Time Workshop, the Embedded MATLAB Function block supports a subset of MATLAB commands that generate efficient C code.
• Unlike MATLAB Fcn blocks, Embedded MATLAB Function blocks have multiple inputs and outputs. The Embedded MATLAB Function blocks also inherit Simulink input and output signals.
• Using Embedded MATLAB Function blocks, developers now have access to a wide and growing variety of sophisticated mathematical applications for the embedded environment.

MATLAB Builder for Java

MATLAB Builder for Java extends the MATLAB Compiler with tools for automatically generating Java™ classes from your MATLAB algorithms. MATLAB Builder for Java lets you incorporate MATLAB algorithms into back-end, desktop and Web applications built using Java-based technologies.

Visit the MATLAB Builder for Java product page to learn more.

Announcements

Next release shipping on DVD

The next release of The MathWorks products, due to reach South African customers in the March/April time-frame, will ship on new media. In order to reduce installation complexity and install time, Release 2007a will be distributed on DVD. This enables you to install your MathWorks products without changing media during the installation. With the rich product set being produced by The MathWorks, combined with the comprehensive online documentation and help system, and demonstration files, previous releases of The MathWorks products required multiple CD media to be used during installation.

Customers who are current on MathWorks Software Maintenance Service should expect their DVD update of The MathWorks products in the March/April time-frame. Customers who do not have a DVD-Rom drive will still be able to download licensed products from The MathWorks web site, should they not wish to purchase a DVD-Rom drive.

User Resources

Get your own MathWorks Account

Do you have your own MathWorks Account yet? Anyone can sign up for a MathWorks Account, but the benefits are greatest for licensed users of The MathWorks software. Having a MathWorks Account allows anyone to get more benefits from The MathWorks web site, such as receiving the MATLAB Digest newsletter, being able to easily register for Webinars and other downloadable content on The MathWorks web site, and being able to view and report bugs.

End-users who create a MathWorks Account and associate that account with a license that is current on MathWorks Software Maintenance Service have more benefits available to them, such as being able to download product trials, request technical support, and download licensed products.

For a full list of MathWorks Account benefits, and to sign up for your own MathWorks Account, click here.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel! MATLAB Central rolls just fine.

OPTI-NUM solutions has a strong consultancy team who have been able to assist customers with implementing MATLAB-based solutions to their problems. OPTI-NUM also uses the same consultancy team on various in-house projects. During a recent project, we needed to read an XML file into MATLAB. While MATLAB has a function called xmlread, we wanted something more specific. One of the first places we looked was the MATLAB Central File Exchange. We found a utility function to do exactly what we needed, that is, store the XML data in a MATLAB structure with fields the same as the node names. We found an excellent function to perform our required task.

We have had similar experiences on other projects, and MATLAB Central has helped us to find utilities for selecting data in 3D coordinate spaces, and modelling 2D surfaces from scattered data. Next time you're writing a little code and think "somebody must have done this before", don't forget to search the MATLAB Central File Exchange or MATLAB News Group archive. You may well save yourself development and testing time.

Featured User Story

The University of Nottingham and AstraZeneca
Research and Development Charnwood Accelerate
Clinical Research of Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Using MathWorks Tools

The University of Nottingham used MathWorks tools to acquire and
process hyperspectral images, develop algorithms for producing
oxygen saturation maps, and build a graphical user interface (GUI)
to facilitate the work of clinical researchers.

Click here to read the full user story.

 

Events

Upcoming Training Courses

14 September 2010	Statistical Methods in MATLAB
15 September 2010	Advanced MATLAB Programming Techniques
16 September 2010	MATLAB for Building Graphical User Interfaces

 

 

View our training schedule.

If you would like to book your place on one of OPTI-NUM solutions training courses, or would like more information about on-site training courses, please contact the sales team on (011) 3256238 or training@optinum.co.za.

Upcoming Seminars

07 September 2010	Pretoria	Defence Day - Model-Based Design for High Integrity Systems
06 October 2010	Johannesburg	Algorithm Development with MATLAB for C and C++ Programmers

 

View all upcoming events.

Upcoming Webinars

07 September 2010	Speeding Up MATLAB Applications
09 September 2010	Image Acquisition and Processing Using GigE Vision Cameras with MATLAB
14 September 2010	Analyze, Model and Simulate Energy Risk with MATLAB – a SAP Integration at RWE

 

View all upcoming events.

 

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