MATLAB : What is it scope in Embedded Systems

Question

I am fairly new into Embedded Technology and have self-learned Linux Drivers and ATMEGA micro-controller programming and development.

I am self-learning MATLAB. What are the real time projects we can build using MATLAB basically related to Embedded Systems world?

Answer 1

MATLAB is development environment with a high-level language. For Embedded Systems, there are various coder products which allow you to automatically generate C/C++ code from your MATLAB/Simulink design and port it to an embedded system. Note that these tend to focus on the algorithmic portion of the application, the drivers and the rest tends to be hand-written in general:

• MATLAB Coder: generates standalone C and C++ code from MATLAB code, works with a subset of the MATLAB language that is compatible with real-time implementation
• Simulink Coder: generates and executes C and C++ code from Simulink diagrams, Stateflow charts, and MATLAB functions (within Simulink models). Code is functionally correct but tends to be for rapid prototyping rather than production use.
• Embedded Coder: generates readable, compact, and fast C/C++ code for use on embedded processors, on-target rapid prototyping boards, and microprocessors used in mass production. Embedded Coder enables additional MATLAB Coder and Simulink Coder configuration options and advanced optimizations for fine-grain control of the generated code’s functions, files, and data.

In addition, there are various targets supported "out of the box" for code generation, see Hardware Support.

Code generation is an "advanced" manoeuvre, probably best to learn the basics of MATLAB/Simulink first before attempting to generate code.