MATLAB: Non-real time simulation with Arduino

Question

Here's my question:

I want Simulink to run a simulation when hooked up to my Arduino, but I want it to run much faster than real-time. The idea here is to have a simulation of my physical system run, then, depending on the outputs of the simulation, change the inputs to my actual physical system. In short, it's a way to see how my physical system will respond to an input before actually applying that input.

My question to you: How can I get simulink to run its simulation and spit out results to my Arduino faster than real-time? Is there a way to specify my simulation time?

Your assistance here would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

MATLAB/Simulink runs on Windows, Mac and Linux; none of which are real-time operating systems. Therefore, in general, MATLAB/Simulink are not recommended for real-time simulation. There are two add-on products that are available for true real-time simulation: Simulink Real-Time (formerly xPC Target) and Real-Time Windows Target.

However, if you are designing for a soft real-time application, and your Simulink model runs faster than your application, you might be able to get away with this.

Do you plan to run your model in a loop with the hardware, or do you asynchronously request results from Simulink when inputs become available?