| Version 5.0 (R13) Simulink® Software Release Notes | |
This table summarizes what's new in V5.0 (R13):
| New Features and Changes | Version Compatibility Considerations | Fixed Bugs and Known Problems | Related Documentation at Web Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes Details below | Yes—Details labeled as Compatibility Considerations, below. See also Summary. | Fixed Bugs | No |
New features and changes introduced in this version are organized by these topics:
Note Simulink 5.0 incorporates changes introduced in Simulink 4.1.1, which was initially released in Web-downloadable form after Release 12.1 was released, but before Release 13. These Release Notes describe those changes, as well as other changes introduced after Version 4.1.1. |
Simulink 5.0 includes the following block-related enhancements:
Simulink software now includes the latest version (4.0) of the Fixed-Point Blockset. The library was previously available only as a separately installed option. You must have a Fixed-Point Blockset license to run models containing fixed-point blocks in fixed-point mode. However, you can open, edit, and run such models in floating-point mode, regardless of whether you have a Fixed-Point Blockset license. This change facilitates sharing of fixed-point models in large organizations by eliminating the need for all users in a group to have a Fixed-Point Blockset license in order to run or modify models containing fixed-point blocks. See Installation and Licensing in the Simulink Fixed-Point Blockset release notes for information on how to run models containing fixed-point blocks when you do not have a Fixed-Point Blockset license.
This release also unifies many core Simulink and Fixed-Point Blockset blocks that have similar functionality. For example, the Sum block in the Simulink Math Operations library and the Sum block in the Fixed-Point Blockset Math library are now the same block. As a result, you no longer have to replace any of the unified blocks when switching from built-in to fixed-point data types and vice versa. You can change the data types of the blocks simply by selecting the appropriate settings on their parameter dialog boxes. See Unified Simulink and Fixed-Point Blockset Blocks in the Simulink Fixed-Point Blockset release notes for more information and for a list of blocks that this release unifies.
Note When you open an existing model, Simulink 5.0 updates the model to use the unified version of a standard or Fixed-Point Blockset block wherever an instance of that block occurs in the model. Simulink software sets the parameters of the unified block to preserve the behavior of the original block. For example, wherever your existing model contains a Sum block from the Fixed-Point Blockset library, Simulink software replaces the Fixed-Point Blockset version with a unified Sum block set to operate as a fixed-point block. This automatic updating ensures that your existing model runs the same in Simulink 5.0 as it did in previous releases of Simulink software. |
The Lookup Table Editor allows you to find and edit the contents of look-up tables used by look-up table blocks. See Lookup Table Editor in the online Simulink documentation for more information.
Simulink software now includes a library of model verification blocks that enable you to create self-validating models. For example, you can use the blocks to test that signals do not exceed specified limits during simulation. When you are satisfied that a model is correct, you can turn error-checking off by disabling the model verification blocks. You do not have to physically remove them from the model. The library includes set of blocks preconfigured to check for common types of errors, for example, signals that exceed a specified upper or lower bound. See Model Verification in the online Simulink documentation for more information.
The new Signal Builder block allows you to create interchangeable groups of signal sources and quickly switch the groups into and out of a model. The Signal Builder block's signal editor allows you to define the waveforms of the signals output by the block. You can specify any waveform that is piecewise linear. Signal groups can greatly facilitate testing a model, especially when used in conjunction with Simulink assertion blocks and the optional Model Coverage Tool. See Working with Signal Groups for more information.
The new DocBlock block allows you to create text that documents a model and save that text with the model.
Simulink software now includes a Rate Transition block that allows you to specify the data transfer mechanism between two rates of a multirate system. See Rate Transition in the online Simulink block reference for more information.
The Simulink Block Library has been reorganized to simplify accessing blocks with related functionality.
This release introduces two blocks that generate linear models from a Simulink model at various times during a simulation. The Time-Based Linearization block generates linear models at specified time steps. The Trigger-Based Linearization block generates models when triggered by events appearing at its trigger port.
This release allows you to navigate among the blocks that define and access data stores by clicking on the names of associated blocks listed in the dialog box of each block. See Data Store Memory, Data Store Read, and Data Store Write for more information.
The S-Function Builder has been enhanced to generate S-functions with the following additional capabilities
Multiple ports
Support for all builtin datatypes
Support for 2-D signals
Support for complex signals
See Building S-Functions Automatically for more information.
This release introduces the following enhancements to Simulink blocks.
Math Function Block. This release significantly speeds up the simulation of the Math Function block's exponential math functions. All functions now support both double- and single-precision floating-point inputs and outputs. The mod and rem functions also support inputs and outputs of all integer types. The transpose and hermitian functions support all data types. When optimizations are enabled, the conjugate operation on a real signal invokes the block reduction optimization, as that case is a no-op. In-place multiplies for the magnitude^2 operation are used for reused block I/O on real signals.
Gain Block. The Gain block now performs block reduction when block reduction is on, inline parameters=ON, and the gain is both nontunable and unity.
Width Block. The Width block now includes a parameter to specify the datatype of the output.
Real Data Type Support. The following blocks now operate on both double precision and single precision floating point signals:
Dot Product
Trigonometric
Matrix Inversion
To view a table that summarizes the data types supported by the blocks in the Simulink and Fixed-Point block libraries, execute the following command at the MATLAB command line:
showblockdatatypetable
Simulink 5.0 includes the following new features and enhancements to simulation of Simulink models.
Simulink software now detects and highlights several kinds of invalid loops:
Loops that create invalid function-call connections or an attempt to modify the input/output arguments of a function call
Loops containing non-latched triggered subsystems
Self-triggering subsystems
Loops containing action subsystems in a cycle
This makes it is easier to identify and fix the loop. See Avoiding Invalid Loops for more information.
Simulink software now optionally highlights algebraic loops when you update or simulate a model. See Highlighting Algebraic Loops for more information. The ashow debug command without any arguments now lists all of a model's algebraic loops in the MATLAB command window.
This release introduces a new optimization called conditional execution behavior. Previously, when simulating models containing Switch or Multiport Switch blocks, Simulink software executed all blocks required to compute all inputs to each switch at each time step. In this release, Simulink software, by default, executes only the blocks required to compute the control input and the data input selected by the control input at each time step. Similarly, code generated from the model by Real-Time Workshop software executes only the code needed to compute the control input and the selected data input. This optimization speeds simulation and execution of code generated from the model. See Conditional Execution Behavior for more information.
The Diagnostics Pane of the Simulation Parameters dialog box now groups diagnostics by functionality. This makes it easier to find and configure related diagnostics.
This release introduces an enhanced Diagnostic Viewer. Improvements include
Identical appearance on UNIX® and Windows systems
Hyperlinks to Simulink, Stateflow, and Real-Time Workshop objects that caused the errors displayed in the viewer
Sortable error list
Clicking a column head sorts the error list by the contents of that column.
Configurable content
The View menu allows you to choose which information to display in the viewer.
Selectable font size
The FontSize menu allows you to choose the size of the font used to display error messages.
See Simulation Diagnostics Viewer for more information.
Compatibility Considerations. New version of the Diagnostic Viewer is not supported on the HP and IBM® platforms.
The following enhancements facilitate creation of Simulink models.
This release introduces changes to the Mask Editor designed to improve usability. Changes include
Block parameter information moves from the Initialization pane to a new pane entitled Parameters.
The Parameters pane allows you to specify a callback function to be called when the value of a parameter changes.
The Parameters pane allows you to specify via check boxes whether a parameter is visible on the masked block's dialog box and whether a parameter is tunable.
The Icon pane provides a list of examples of all the types of drawing commands that can be used to draw the block's icon.
See Creating Block Masks in the online Simulink documentation for more information.
Simulink Editor's Find dialog is not supported on the HP and IBM platforms. Use the find_system command instead.
Enhanced version of Mask Editor is not supported on the HP and IBM platforms.
This release allows you to include symbols, Greek letters, and other formatting in annotations, masked subsystem port labels, and masked subsystem icon text. You do this by including TeX formatting commands in the annotation, port label, or icon text.
Production hardware characteristics is a new setting on the Advanced pane of the Simulation parameters dialog box. This setting, intended for use in modeling, simulating, and generating code for digital systems, allows you to specify the sizes of the data types supported by the system being modeled. Simulink software uses this information to automate the choice of data types for signals output by some blocks.
This release allows you to use any color supported by your system as the foreground or background colors of a block diagram. See Specifying Block Diagram Colors in the online documentation for more information.
This command generates an HTML report detailing the contents of the currently selected model (see Generating a Model Report in the online documentation for more information).
In previous releases, the Boolean logic signals optimization was off by default for new models (see Implement logic signals as boolean data (vs. double) in the online Simulink documentation for a description of this option). In the current release, the optimization is on by default for new models. This change does not affect existing models.
The Model Discretizer tool selectively replaces continuous Simulink blocks with discrete equivalents. Discretization is critical in digital controller design for dynamic systems and for hardware in the loop simulations. You can use this tool to prepare continuous models for use with the Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder software, which supports only discrete blocks. See Model Discretizer in the online documentation for more information.
The following are platform limitations for Simulink 5.0 for the HP and IBM platforms that are new limitations, as of Version 5.0.
The Parameter dialog for the Configuration Subsystem Block is not supported on the HP and IBM platforms. Instead, use the set_param command to set the block's parameters.
The View Changes dialog box for modified library links is not supported on the HP and IBM platforms. Instead, select the modified link and execute ld=get_param(gcb,'LinkData') to get a structure that lists the parameter differences between the library and local instance of the block. Edit this structure and execute set_param(gcb,'LinkData',ld) to apply the changes.
The GUI interface to the Simulink Debugger is not supported on the HP and IBM platforms. Use the command-line interface instead.
Model Discretizer is not supported on the HP and IBM platforms.
Note The Release 12 and 12.1 platform limitations for Simulink software for the HP and IBM platforms still apply to Release 13. These are listed below. |
The following Java-dependent Simulink features, introduced in Simulink 4.1, are not available on the HP and IBM platforms.
Simulink Data Class Designer
S-Function Builder
Look-Up Table Editor
| Version 5.0.1 (R13.0.1) Simulink Software | Version 4.1 (R12+) Simulink Software | |
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