Simulink Release Notes    

Block Enhancements

Simulink 5.0 includes the following block-related enhancements:

Fixed-Point Block Library

Simulink now includes the latest version (4.0) of the Fixed-Point Blockset. The library was previously available only as a separately installed option. You must have a Fixed-Point Blockset license to run models containing fixed-point blocks in fixed-point mode. However, you can open, edit, and run such models in floating-point mode, regardless of whether you have a Fixed-Point Blockset license. This change facilitates sharing of fixed-point models in large organizations by eliminating the need for all users in a group to have a Fixed-Point Blockset license in order to run or modifymodels containing fixed-point blocks. See Installation and Licensing in the Fixed-Point Blockset release notes for information on how to run models containing fixed-point blocks when you do not have a Fixed-Point Blockset license.

This release also unifies many core Simulink and Fixed-Point Blockset blocks that have similar functionality. For example, the Sum block in the Simulink Math Operations library and the Sum block in the Fixed-Point Blockset Math library are now the same block. As a result, you no longer have to replace any of the unified blocks when switching from built-in to fixed-point data types and vice versa. You can change the data types of the blocks simply by selecting the appropriate settings on their parameter dialog boxes. See Unified Simulink and Fixed-Point Blockset Blocks in the Fixed-Point Blockset release notes for more information and for a list of blocks that this release unifies.

Look-Up Table Editor

The Look-Up Table Editor allows you to find and edit the contents of look-up tables used by look-up table blocks. See Look-Up Table Editor in the online Simulink documentation for more information.

Model Verification Block Library

Simulink now includes a library of model verification blocks that enable you to create self-validating models. For example, you can use the blocks to test that signals do not exceed specified limits during simulation. When you are satisfied that a model is correct, you can turn error-checking off by disabling the model verification blocks. You do not have to physically remove them from the model. The library includes set of blocks preconfigured to check for common types of errors, for example, signals that exceed a specified upper or lower bound. See Model Verification in the online Simulink documentation for more information.

Signal Builder Block

The new Signal Builder block allows you to create interchangeable groups of signal sources and quickly switch the groups into and out of a model. The Signal Builder block's signal editor allows you to define the waveforms of the signals output by the block. You can specify any waveform that is piecewise linear. Signal groups can greatly facilitate testing a model, especially when used in conjunction with Simulink assertion blocks and the optional Model Coverage Tool. See Working with Signal Groups for more information.

DocBlock

The new DocBlock block allows you to create text that documents a model and save that text with the model.

Rate Transition Block

Simulink now includes a Rate Transition block that allows you to specify the data transfer mechanism between two rates of a multirate system. See Rate Transition in the online Simulink block reference for more information.

Block Library Reorganization

The Simulink Block Library has been reorganized to simplify accessing blocks with related functionality. See for more information.

Model Linearization Blocks

This release introduces two blocks that generate linear models from a Simulink model at various times during a simulation. The Time-Based Linearization block generates linear models at specified time steps. The Trigger-Based Linearization block generates models when triggered by events appearing at its trigger port.

Data Read/Write Block Navigation

To come

Enhanced S-Function Builder

The S-Function Builder has been enhanced to generate S-functions with the following additional capabilities

See Building S-Functions Automatically for more information.

Miscellaneous Block Enhancements

This release introduces the following enhancements to Simulink blocks.

Math Function Block.   This release significantly speeds up the simuluation of the Math Function block's exponential math functions. All functions now support both double- and single-precision floating-point inputs and outputs. The mod and rem functions also support inputs and outputs of all integer types. The transpose and hermitian functions support all data types. When optimizations are enabled, the conjugate operation on a real signal invokes the block reduction optimization, as that case is a no-op. In-place multiplies for the magnitude^2 operation are used for reused block I/O on real signals.

Gain Block .   The Gain block now performs block reduction when block reduction is on, inline parameters=ON, and the gain is both nontunable and unity.

Width Block .   The Width block now includes a parameter to specify the datatype of the output.

Real Data Type Support.   The following blocks now operate on both double precision and single precision floating point signals:

Block Data Type Table

To view a table that summarizes the data types supported by the blocks in the Simulink and Fixed-Point block libraries, execute the following command at the MATLAB command line:


  Simulink 5.0 Release Notes Simulation Enhancements