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How to protect intellectual property (IP) with an FMU exported from Simulink in R2020b?

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There are two different kinds of functional mockup unit (FMU) which can be exported from Simulink:
  1. Standalone FMU
  2. Tool-Coupling FMU
Which kind of FMU should I choose if my goal is IP protection?

Accepted Answer

MathWorks Support Team
MathWorks Support Team on 8 Jun 2022
Edited: MathWorks Support Team on 8 Jun 2022
The FMI standard does not specify anything related to IP protection, however "Standalone" FMU exports get some degree of IP protection.
Standalone FMU:
Since Simulink Compiler uses the Simulink Coder infrastructure, FMU Export gets some level of IP protection:
  • Compiled binaries: the original Simulink model/source code are compiled into binary form (user cannot recover original Simulink model)
  • Obfuscated symbols: C function and global variable names are obfuscated after code generation (user cannot recover meaningful source code function/symbol names)
What FMU export does not have:
  • Obfuscated constants (user cannot recover meaningful string literals and numerical constants)
  • Additional encryption of dynamic library file (user cannot recover original memory layout)
  • Password protection for FMU zip package (user cannot decrypt FMU without password)
Tool-Coupling FMU:
There is no level of IP protection.
Other approaches to protect IP of your Simulink model that do not involve FMUs are mentioned in the following MATLAB Answers post:

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R2020b

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