Newsletters May 2007

May 2007

This edition of the newsletter, although general in nature, has a slight bias towards modelling physical systems. The technical article describes how you can model physical systems using Simulink and includes a link to a Simulink model of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle (note that the model download is approximately 2MB). The user story describes how Lockheed Martin Space Systems used SimMechanics to model a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

As always, you will also 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

Modelling Physical Systems using Simulink

Simulink is a platform for multi-domain model based design, simulation and implementation. The Simulink physical modelling tools help reduce the amount of domain knowledge and programming effort in modelling physical systems or plants by providing a foundation library of physical elements. The tight integration of the physical modelling tools into Simulink means that all the traditional Simulink tools such as Simulink Control Design and Stateflow can be added to the physical model to accurately simulate the system and design controllers or determine integrated system behaviour.

A SimPowerSystems and SimDriveline model of a Hybrid Electric Vehicle

An example of how the physical modelling tools can be combined with the data flow from Simulink to model a multi domain physical system can be seen in the model of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)above (note that the model download is approximately 2MB). This model was developed using blocks from SimPowerSystems, SimDriveline and Simulink.

SimMechanics provides a block diagram approach to modelling multi-body mechanical systems with a variety of solver techniques for analysing motion and sizing mechanical components. The model can also be imported using CAD translators available for Solidworks and Pro/ENGINEER. SimMechanics has a built in three-dimensional visualisation tool, provided to view an animated rendering of the physical system. The visualisation can also be extended using the visualisation tools in MATLAB and Simulink such as the Virtual Reality Toolbox.

SimPowerSystems can be used for modelling and simulating basic electrical circuits and detailed electrical power systems. These tools let you model the generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption of electrical power, as well as its conversion into mechanical power. SimPowerSystems is well suited to the development of complex, self-contained power systems, such as those in automobiles, aircraft, manufacturing plants and power utility applications.

SimScape, a new physical modelling product offered by The Mathworks in R2007a, provides three foundation libraries for modelling physical systems in the mechanical, electrical and hydraulic domains. Additional functionality can be added to SimScape with the extended libraries from SimMechanics, SimHydraulics and SimDriveline. SimPowerSystems, while not part of SimScape, can be used to extent the electrical modelling of SimScape or used on its own due to the tight integration with Simulink.

Announcements

R2007a Released in March

R2007a, released on March 1, 2007, includes updates to MATLAB and Simulink, two new products released since R2006b, and updates and bug fixes to 82 other products. R2007a adds support for the Intel® based Mac, Windows Vista™, and 64-bit Sun Solaris™ SPARC platforms.

Customers who are current on MathWorks Software Maintenance Service should have received their DVD update of The MathWorks products. If you have not already received your DVD, please contact the sales team.

New capabilities for the MATLAB product family include:

• Multithreaded computation in key MATLAB math functions for multicore and multiprocessor systems
• Ability to run parallel algorithms in four MATLAB sessions on your desktop with Distributed Computing Toolbox
• New categorical and dataset arrays in Statistics Toolbox
• Fixed-Point Toolbox acceleration at the speed of compiled C
• Exact modeling and analysis of control loops with delays in Control System Toolbox
• Generation of nonlinear models with System Identification Toolbox
• Simulated annealing in Genetic Algorithm and Direct Search Toolbox

New capabilities for the Simulink product family include:

• Multidimensional signal support for Simulink, Signal Processing Blockset, Embedded MATLAB Function block, Video and Image Processing Blockset, and Real-Time Workshop
• Improved code efficiency and MISRA C support in Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder
• New graphical interface for analyzing and scaling fixed-point systems in Simulink Fixed Point
• Vector and matrix support in SimEvents
• Simscape, a new product for multidomain physical modeling

Read more about the latest release.

User Resources

Introducing MATLAB Central Blogs

In our last newsletter, we introduced MATLAB Central as a repository of free software for MATLAB and Simulink. In this article we introduce you to developers talking about their favourite subject: MATLAB and how to use it.

The discussion is carried out by way of blogs, which are web pages containing topics (usually on a single subject) in reverse chronological order, so that you always see the most recent post first. Each post allows you to comment, or view other's comments.

The MATLAB Central blogs discuss the following topics:

• Loren on the Art of MATLAB: Loren Shure works on design of the MATLAB language at The MathWorks. She writes about once a week on MATLAB programming and related topics.
• Doug's Pick of the Week: Doug Hull is an Application Engineer at The MathWorks. A MATLAB user since 1994, he gets paid to live, eat, and breathe MATLAB! Each week, he highlights a submission from the File Exchange that he finds useful or interesting.
• Steve on Image Processing: Steve Eddins manages the Image & Geospatial development team at The MathWorks and coauthored Digital Image Processing Using MATLAB. He writes here about image processing concepts, algorithm implementations, and MATLAB.
• Inside the MATLAB Desktop: The MATLAB Desktop team, comprised of eight developers, builds the main user interface for MATLAB, including the Command Window, the Editor, and the Current Directory browser.

As you can see, the subject matter is varied, but has a common theme: Talking about MATLAB and how to use MATLAB more efficiently.

Visit the MATLAB Central blogs page for information on the current topics being discussed in each blog. You can also stay informed of new posts by subscribing to RSS feeds on each of the blog pages (provided you have an RSS reader such as Firefox, Thunderbird or Internet Explorer 7).

Featured User Story

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Uses SimMechanics
with a Real-Time Simulator to Automate Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Development

Lockheed Martin engineers used MathWorks tools to design and simulate the GN&C system for the MRO and to automatically develop a real-time simulation model of the spacecraft.

Over the past several years, the team has used Simulink and SimMechanics to assemble a library of models for spacecraft actuators, sensors, control algorithms, and vehicle dynamics. They used this library to rapidly develop high-fidelity models of the MRO spacecraft, including flex and fuel slosh modes. Lockheed Martin engineers also used Simulink, SimMechanics, and Real-Time Workshop to develop the Orbiter Test Bed (OTB) for real-time, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation of the MRO.

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.