Simulink Desktop Real-Time

Run Simulink models in real time on your computer

Simulink Desktop Real-Time™ provides a real-time kernel for executing Simulink^® models on a laptop or desktop running Windows^® or macOS^®. It includes library blocks that connect to certain I/O devices. You can create a real-time system in Simulink with your PC or Mac computer and connect it to physical devices.

Refer to Simulink Real-Time™ for high performance real-time simulation and testing with Speedgoat™ target computer hardware.

Get Started:

Real-Time Simulation with a Laptop or Desktop
Monitor Signals and Acquire Data
Connecting Physical Devices

Real-Time Simulation with a Laptop or Desktop

Run Simulink models in real-time on your PC or Mac computer

Real-time closed-loop simulation of Simulink models

Simulink Desktop Real-Time includes a real-time kernel that runs at the highest priority on your operating system. This real-time kernel loads I/O device drivers and establishes a connection with Simulink. The I/O device drivers execute in real time, in parallel with a Simulink simulation in normal mode.

Real-Time Van der Pol Simulation

Water Tank Model with Dashboard

Magnetic Levitation Model

A magnetic levitation control experiment. The model interfaces with external hardware using Analog Input and Analog Output blocks.

Improve real-time performance with Simulink Coder

Use Simulink Coder to generate code for your algorithm model and link it with I/O device driver. The model, solver, and I/O device drivers all execute in real time. MATLAB Coder is required for Simulink Coder installation. Compiler support is included as part of the Simulink Desktop Real-Time installation. No additional or external C or C++ compiler is required.

Real-time execution in external mode

Run hardware-in-the-loop simulations with Simulink Desktop Real-Time

Monitor Signals and Acquire Data

Monitor, capture, and acquire signal data in real-time

Monitoring and capturing signals

Using Simulink Desktop Real-Time with Simulink, you can capture signals from the real-time model and display them with standard Simulink Scope blocks. You can view signals within the model using graphical displays, such as gauges, scopes, and lamps.

Log signals to workspace and file

Configuring stream input and stream output block parameters for a model.

Acquiring and logging data

You can store run-time data in the MATLAB workspace using Simulink. In external mode, you can capture one or more data bursts and save the data to a MATLAB file, which can be accessed in MATLAB for additional analysis and visualization.

Log signals to workspace and file

Set scope parameters to log to workspace.

Connecting Physical Devices

I/O driver blocks provide connections between physical devices and your model

Library of I/O driver blocks

Simulink Desktop Real-Time includes a library of I/O driver blocks that provide connections between physical I/O devices and real-time models. You can run simulations to observe how Simulink models respond to real-world behavior.

Hardware Support from Simulink Desktop Real-Time

Simulink Desktop Real-Time block library.

Connect I/O devices to Simulink signals to read inputs and write outputs.

I/O driver communication

Simulink Desktop Real-Time I/O driver blocks enable communication using either ASCII or binary data. Supported communication protocols include UDP for standard network connections, RS-232 for serial lines, and CAN bus for controller area networks.

Packet input/output

Stream input/output

CAN input/output