Mathworks : Pioneering a New Era of Electronic Design Automation

Mathworks

John N. Little, President, MathworksJohn N. Little, President
Today, companies in varied market landscapes use simulation to rapidly innovate, validate designs, improve cycle times and launch more of the ‘right’ products faster for better efficiency and profitability. This technology can be deployed anywhere as it deals with physical products in the digital realm. However, with infinite potential comes the hurdle of absorbing and adapting to the new skill-sets required to thrive in the market space that has welcomed simulation.

Simulation is no easy feat owing to its highly complex software that requires a significant learning curve for users. Companies will not only have to invest in the technology itself but also in training or hiring personnel, and in some cases, support from the simulation solution provider. The need to simulate larger and more complex systems, wipe out uncertainties in the models, develop ultra-fast real-time simulations, develop simulation tools that can be used by large multi-disciplinary teams, or develop simulations of systems that include human behavior, are just a few of the challenges posing as roadblocks.

Founded in 1984, Boston-based Mathworks is a leading developer of mathematical computing software. Its main products include MATLAB and Simulink, which support data analysis and simulation. Further services include software maintenance, training, consulting, cloud solutions in addition to hardware support packages and third-party services. “When you use MATLAB and Simulink together, you combine textual and graphical programming to design your system in a simulation environment. Along with Model-Based Design (using a system model at the center of development) tool, it improves product quality and reduces development time by 50 percent or more,” says Jack Little, President of Mathworks.

Simulink — incubated by Mathworks — is a design environment to aid a concept from code to simulated models and run it via hardware. The platform allows event-based and physical modeling, real-time simulation and testing, systems engineering, code generation, and application deployment, along with verification and validation. There is a wide array of tools Simulink equips its users with. The tools include Stateflow, SimEvents, Simscape, Simulink Real-Time, Simulink Code, and Simulink Test out of the dozens in the product family.

Stateflow provides a graphical language that includes state transition diagrams, flow charts, state transition tables, and truth tables. It can be used to describe how MATLAB algorithms and Simulink models react to input signals, events, and time-based conditions.

When you use MATLAB and Simulink together, you combine textual and graphical programming to design your system in a simulation environment. Along with Model-Based Design (using a system model at the center of development) tool, it improves product quality and reduces development time by 50 percent or more

Simscape enables users to create models of physical systems within the Simulink environment. With Simscape, physical component models based on physical connections that directly integrate with block diagrams and other modeling paradigms can be built with ease. This can be applied in model systems such as electric motors, bridge rectifiers, hydraulic actuators, and refrigeration systems by assembling fundamental components into a schematic.

Generation and execution of C and C++ codes from Simulink models, Stateflow charts, and MATLAB functions can be easily carried out using Simulink Coder. The generated source code can then be used for real-time and non-real-time applications, including simulation acceleration, rapid prototyping, and hardware-in-the-loop testing.

Users can test cases to drive their model to satisfy the condition, decision, modified condition/decision (MCDC), and custom coverage objectives using the Simulink Design Verifier. It can be further used to specify custom test objectives to generate requirements-based test cases automatically. It can formally verify that the design meets functional requirements. For each design error or requirements violation, it generates a simulation test case for debugging. The process can be hastened using Simulink Test, designed for authoring, managing, and executing systematic, simulation-based tests of models, generated code, and simulated or physical hardware.

With all the various tools in the Simulink toolkit, the Mathworks platform brings together all the processes involved in simulation under one roof, readily accessible and increasingly easier. The company has recently introduced Release 2021a of the MATLAB and Simulink product families. Release 2021a (R2021a) offers hundreds of new and updated features and functions in MATLAB and Simulink, along with three new products and 12 major updates. New capabilities in MATLAB include dynamic controls in live scripts as well as a new task for adding plots to live scripts without writing any code. Simulink updates enable users to import C code as reusable Simulink libraries and to speed up simulations. R2021a also introduces new products in satellite communications, radar, and DDS (Data Distribution Service) applications.

In the new product line-up, Satellite Communications Toolbox has already stirred attention owing to the increase in the number of low earth orbit (LEO) satellites to serve the high-speed mobility market. “The toolbox is designed to help equipment makers and operators model, simulate, analyze, and verify satellite communications systems and links. It enables you to model and visualize satellite orbits and perform link analysis and access calculations. You can also design physical layer algorithms together with RF components and ground station receivers, generate test waveforms, and perform golden reference design verification,” concludes Little.

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