MATLAB: About xPC Target and supproted IOboard

matlab(2011b)matlab(2017b)realtimewindowssimulink(2011b)simulink(2017b)xpcxpctarget

Hi,I'm a Japanese university student,and studying control system development.
Our laboratory is using xPC-Target and Matlab/Simulink(2011b) for Real Time Test. Its old version, so we wannna upgrade to Matlab/Simulink(2017b).
But we don't know what IObord is supported by Matlab Simulink(2017b). Currently, our using IObord is CONTEC board. In Simulink(2011b), there are some blocks that named "Contec","Advantec","analogic", and so on.
But Simulink(2017b), there is no block named like "Contec", "Advantec". There are only blocks named "Digital Input(Output)",and "Analog Input(Output)".
So,please tell me;
・Can we use Matlab/Simulink(2017b) with xPC Target?
・What IOboard are supported by Simulink(2017b)?

Best Answer

In the time since R2011b, xpc-target was renamed Simulink Real-Time, which is a different product than the similar-named Simulink Desktop Real-TIme .
In R2011b, xpc-target supported a number of I/O boards -- though finding out which ones it supported sometimes took some investigation.
In the time since then, Mathworks changed strategy quite a bit on xpc-target. Mathworks removed formal support for most third-party I/O boards, and most third-party hardware. Instead, Mathworks partnered with a company named Speedgoat, and Mathworks now only supports Speedgoat computers and peripherals. Speedgoat acts like a systems integrator, testing and tuning hardware and driver combinations and debugging their interaction with xpc-target.
Mathworks started warning in R2017a that they would be removing supprot for CONTEC, and continued warning in R2017b. The support for CONTECT blocks were removed as of R2018a.
https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2019a/xpc/release-notes.html?rntext=contec&startrelease=R14SP2&endrelease=R2019a&groupby=release&sortby=descending&searchHighlight=contec
Because of this, the R2017b that you are looking at using is the last xpc-target version that supported CONTEC blocks. The blocks you are already using might continue to work in R2017b, but you should not expect any new support.
I suggest you read through the release notes of changes between R2011b and R2017b; https://www.mathworks.com/help/releases/R2019a/xpc/release-notes.html?rntext=&startrelease=R2011b&endrelease=R2017b&groupby=release&sortby=descending&searchHighlight= to see whether there were changes of interest to you
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