Run an animation during simulation in Simulink purely via MATLAB

Hi,

I am trying to run an animation (which does not need any Simulink data) when the simulation status of a model is "running".

I am aware of the callback function StartFcn but this only runs during the initialization phase and not during the running phase.

I am also aware that I could run the animation by creating a MATLAB function within simulink and update the animation as the simulink model is running.

But I do not want this setup. I want to find out if I can invoke a MATLAB function outside simulink with a while loop using the simulink's simulation running status.

I tried parfeval but I cannot make it work because I believe I need to invoke the background process somehow within the simulink model (which I do not want). Then I found out about the timer function, but I am not sure if it can work in this setup either (or I cannot think of how to make it run).

Is what I ask possible? Or we always need to invoke the animation within the simulink model?

Many thanks.

Answer 1

[Shubham]

Hi Christos,

To run the animation while the simulation status of model is running, using a MATLAB function outside Simulink, you can follow these steps:

1. Create a timer object that checks the simulation status at regular intervals.
2. Check the simulation status using get_param to see if the model's status is "running."
3. Execute animation code if the model is running

Here's an example of how to implement this:

% Define the animation function
function runAnimation()
    % Your animation code here
    disp('Running animation...');
end

% Timer callback function
function checkSimulationStatus(timerObj, ~)
    modelName = 'your_model_name'; % Replace with your model's name
    status = get_param(modelName, 'SimulationStatus');
    
    if strcmp(status, 'running')
        runAnimation();
    end
end

% Set up the timer
animationTimer = timer('ExecutionMode', 'fixedRate', ...
                       'Period', 1, ... % Check every second
                       'TimerFcn', @checkSimulationStatus);

% Start the timer
start(animationTimer);

% Remember to stop the timer once the simulation ends
% stop(animationTimer);
% delete(animationTimer);

This setup allows you to run an external animation without embedding it into the Simulink model.

For more information, refer to the following documentation links:

• get_param: https://mathworks.com/help/releases/R2022a/simulink/slref/get_param.html
• timer: https://mathworks.com/help/releases/R2022a/matlab/ref/timer.html

Hope this helps.

[Christos]

Thank you Shubham.

I made it work with the timer function.

A few comments for people that might want to replicate this:

• Set up the timer in the StartFcn Simulink's callback function.
• Don't create the animation function without extra arguments because they are needed from the timer function (i.e. runAnimation(~,~)).
• Stop and delete the timer in the StopFcn callback function of Simulink.