Question

2) What are some toolboxes and blocks of Altair Embed? What are compound blocks and how are they configured. Please included some example from your installation and experimentation.

Answer 1

Answer:-

Altair Embed® software is a proven tool for developing embedded systems, by automatically generating code from block diagram models and transferring to popular controller hardware. Once you have a working simulation based on a system diagram, automatically generate the associated code for your hardware controller. You can also readily test your design using Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL).

Tailored for Embedded System Development

Generate efficient and compact ANSI C code for dynamic systems involving scaled, fixed-point operations. Tune parameters and monitor real-time data.

Block Diagrams & State Diagrams

Simulate dynamic systems including continuous or discrete-time behaviors as well as event-based behaviors.

Diagram-to-code

No manual coding required. Automatically converts your block diagrams and state diagrams to microcontroller unit (MCU) hardware-ready code.

Support for Popular Target MCU Hardware

Including many industrial-strength devices from Texas Instruments (TI) as well as popular Arduino and Raspberry Pi devices.

Interactive Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Testing

Run your plant model in Altair Embed on the host computer while your control algorithm runs in real-time on the target MCU, communicating via a HOTLink.

Benefits

Rapid Development of Control Systems Altair Embed provides a complete tool chain for the development of embedded control systems covering Software-in-the-Loop, Processor-in-the-Loop as well as Hardwarein-the-Loop simulations. You can make changes to a control diagram, and compile and download it to the target MCU in seconds. Then, while the system is operating, you can interactively update the control parameters. Using powerful data logging, buffering, and digital scoping blocks, you can gain insight into the control algorithms deployed on the target MCU in real time

. No Hand-Coding Required

Turning control diagrams into executable, real-time capable code used to require an experienced embedded software developer. With Altair Embed’s code generator, a control design engineer can easily try out new algorithms on a target hardware without the need of hand-coding.

Affordable and Easily Configured

Solution Altair Embed comes in the basic configuration already with most of the tools needed for embedded development including state charts, target support, fixedpoint algorithms, efficient code generator, motor control libraries, and a lot more. This results in an affordable and easy configurable development environment.

Capabilities

Diagram-to-Code

Altair Embed generates efficient and compact yet readable ANSI C code for discrete, continuous, and hybrid systems created using diagrams. For example, code generated for closed-loop motor control – including PI controller, digital output, PWM, and encoder peripherals – runs at 300KHz on a 150MHz F28335 MCU with a memory footprint of 2095 bytes for code, 501 bytes for initialized data, and 504 bytes for uninitialized data.

Altair Embed allows easy integration of legacy source code and easy portability to target hardware given the generated fixedpoint and floating-point code which, with automatic scaling, can be compiled on any platform with target compiler. Diagram semantics allow users to easily configure execution of blocks using software/ hardware timers, Interrupts and local/global rates. Users also have the choice to use the highly efficient royalty-free scheduling scheme by Altair Embed or to generate calls for an external RTOS. Traceability between diagram and code makes it highly intuitive and easy to work on large diagrams with high block counts and possibly multiple layers of hierarchy.

Interactive Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulations

In MCU-in-the-loop (MIL) simulation, the plant model runs on the host computer in Altair Embed while the control algorithm runs in real time on the target MCU. Real-time communication between the target MCU and Altair Embed is performed via a JTAG hotlink. Continue to use Altair Embed’s GUI while you tune parameters and monitor real-time data transfer. Altair Embed also supports a PIL-synchronous communication mode that runs the target in lock step with the simulation, allowing easy verification of embedded algorithms.

State Charts

Altair Embed supports OMG UML 2.1 compliant graphical state chart editing, simulation and code generation. Combined with a built-in C interpreter, this allows fast and reliable development of complex control applications. Scaled, Fixed-Point Algorithms

The Fixed-Point block library lets you perform simulation and efficient code-generation of scaled, fixed-point operations. Overflow and precision loss effects are easily seen and corrected at simulation time. Auto-scaling speeds fixed-point development, while in-line code generation creates fast target code.

Target Hardware Support

Altair Embed hardware agnostic code with abilities to also extend it for using target-specific blocks for any embedded targets. With the growing list of hardware support, Altair Embed currently supports microcontrollers from Texas Instruments (C2000, MSP430/Concerto), Atmel (Atmega 328/2560/32u4) popularly used in the Arduino, and Generic MCU support to extend to other silicon families. Altair Embed also provides device driver blocks that include analog ADC, ePWM, eCAP (event capture), SPI, SCI (RS232 serial), I2C, digital GPIO, QEP (quadrature encoder), and CAN 2.0. Add-ons Altair Embed/Digital Power Designer Provides a library of components and subsystem models tailored to digital power applications (including power converters, controllers, compensators, sources, and more). Altair Embed/Comm Lets you model end-to-end communication systems at the signal or physical level. It provides fast and accurate solutions for analog, digital, and mixed-mode communication