Connecting to Hardware and Instruments

• Test and Measurement Overview
• Connecting to Hardware and Instruments
• Analyzing Your Test Data
• Automating Tests and Building Test Applications

Using MATLAB or Simulink and related products, you can control and acquire data from data acquisition hardware, imaging hardware, instruments, or CAN buses. Without leaving your workspace, you can then visualize and analyze the data.

Acquire and Send Data from Test and Measurement Equipment

In a single environment, you can build flexible test systems, automate testing routines, perform design verification, and analyze and visualize live data as you collect it.

When working with one or more standalone instruments such as oscilloscopes, arbitrary waveform generators, and signal analyzers, you use Instrument Control Toolbox™ to control the instruments and acquire data from them. You can quickly establish communication with instruments via industry-standard communications protocols such as GPIB, VISA (incuding USB), TCP/IP, and UDP and via industry-standard instrument drivers such as IVI and VXIplug&play from many manufacturers, including Agilent, LeCroy, Rohde & Schwarz, and Tektronix.

When working with plug-in data acquisition boards, you use Data Acquisition Toolbox™ to connect to devices from National Instruments, Measurement Computing, and other supported manufacturers. Because many boards provide both analog and digital input and output capabilities, you can control motors and sensors as well as collect and analyze live data from them.

Acquire Images and Video from Cameras and Frame Grabbers

With Image Acquisition Toolbox™ you can acquire images and video directly into MATLAB and Simulink from PC-compatible imaging hardware. With support for multiple hardware vendors, you have the choice of a range of imaging devices from inexpensive Web cameras or industrial frame grabbers to high-end scientific cameras that meet low-light, high-speed, and other challenging requirements. Once you have acquired images, you can extract features and perform further analysis using MathWorks image and video processing products.

Communicate Directly with CAN Buses

With Vehicle Network Toolbox™ you can monitor and analyze Controller Area Network (CAN) bus traffic directly from your MATLAB or Simulink workspace with support for Vector, Kvaser, and NI CAN interface hardware. You can communicate directly with in-vehicle networks that use CAN protocol from either MATLAB or Simulink. Within a single environment, you can:

• Send and receive messages over CAN buses
• Monitor live CAN bus traffic using built-in tools
• Automatically filter CAN messages
• Use industry standard DBC database files