xPC Target™

xPC Target™ Explorer

Introducing xPC Target™ Explorer

xPC Target™ Explorer is a graphical user interface for the xPC Target product. It provides a single point of contact for almost all interactions. Through xPC Target Explorer, you can perform basic operations, such as

• Configure the host PC for the xPC Target software

• Add and configure target PCs for the xPC Target software, up to 64 target PCs

• Create boot disks for particular target PCs

• Connect the target PCs for your xPC Target system to the host PC

• Download a prebuilt target application, DLM, to a target PC

• Start and stop the application that has been downloaded to the target

• Add scopes of type host, target, and file to the downloaded target application

• Monitor signals

• Add signals to xPC Target scopes and remove them

• Start and stop scopes

• Adjust parameter values for the signals while the target application is running

The xPC Target Explorer GUI runs on your xPC Target system host machine.

You can interact with xPC Target Explorer through menus or a toolbar. You can also right-click objects and select actions from the context menu for those objects. The tutorials in the xPC Target documentation describe procedures using mouse operations.

• In the MATLAB^® Command Window, type

  xpcexplr

  The xPC Target Explorer window opens.

  

  You can also start xPC Target Explorer from the Simulink^® model window (Tools > Real-Time Workshop > xPC Target Explorer).

  You can dock or undock the xPC Target Explorer window using the arrow in the upper-right corner. Note the contents of the left pane of the xPC Target Explorer. This is the xPC Target Hierarchy pane. If you resize or move the window, the xPC Target software remembers the new size and location in subsequent restarts of xPC Target Explorer.

  This pane contains all the objects in your xPC Target hierarchy. As you add objects to your system, xPC Target Explorer adds corresponding nodes to the xPC Target Hierarchy pane. The foremost node is the Host PC Root node. It represents the host PC. The right pane displays information that reflects an item selected in the left pane.

  Note that, by default, xPC Target Explorer starts with two target PC objects. The first target PC object is highlighted as the default.

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The xPC Target™ Product and Default Target PCs

The following are notes on default target PCs:

• When you first start xPC Target Explorer, it has a default node, TargetPC1. You configure this node for a target PC, then connect the node to the target PC. If you later build a target application from a Simulink model, the xPC Target software builds and downloads that application for the default target PC. You can add other target PC nodes and designate one of them as the default target PC instead of the first one. To set a target PC node as the default, right-click that node and select Set As Default from the context-sensitive menu. The default target PC node is always boldfaced. In a multitarget environment, this visual aid helps you easily see the target PC you are working with.

  If you delete a default target PC node, the target PC node preceding it becomes the default target PC node. The last target PC node is always the default target PC node and cannot be deleted.

• If you want to use the xPC Target command-line interface to work with the target PC, you must indicate which target PC the command is interacting with. If you do not identify a particular target PC, the xPC Target software expects xPC Target Explorer to contain this information.

• The xPC Target product provides a default target PC to help you work with the MATLAB command-line interface, maintain compatibility with previous releases, and work with Simulink external mode, as follows:

  • When you define a default target PC, the MATLAB command-line interface works as in prior releases. For example, when you instantiate the target object constructor xpc without any arguments (for example, tg=xpc) the constructor uses the environment properties of the default target PC to communicate with the appropriate target PC.

  • The target PC environment object, xpctarget.targets, manages collective and individual target PC environments. See Working with Target PC Environments in the xPC Target user's guide documentation for details.

  • The target PC commands getxpcenv and setxpcenv get and set environment properties of the default target PC.

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Installation on the Host PC

Serial Communication