Embedded Coder for MCU deployment in Simulink - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Embedded Coder for MCU Deployment

📖 Scenario: You are working on a small embedded system project where you want to deploy a simple control algorithm to a microcontroller unit (MCU). You will use Embedded Coder in Simulink to generate code that can run on the MCU.

🎯 Goal: Build a simple Simulink model, configure Embedded Coder for MCU code generation, and generate the C code for deployment.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Simulink model with a Gain block and a Constant block

Set a configuration parameter for the MCU target

Generate Embedded Coder code for the model

Display the generated code file names

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Embedded Coder is used to automatically generate efficient C code from Simulink models for embedded systems like microcontrollers in automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics.

💼 Career

Understanding Embedded Coder and MCU deployment is essential for embedded software engineers and control system developers working on real-time applications.

1

Create a simple Simulink model

Create a Simulink model called simple_mcu_model with a Constant block set to value 5 and a Gain block with gain 3. Connect the Constant block output to the Gain block input.

Simulink

# Your code here to create the model, add blocks, set parameters, and connect blocks

Hint

Use new_system to create the model, add_block to add blocks, and add_line to connect them.

2

Configure Embedded Coder for MCU target

Set the model configuration parameter SystemTargetFile to ert.tlc to enable Embedded Coder code generation for MCU deployment.

Simulink

simple_mcu_model = 'simple_mcu_model';
new_system(simple_mcu_model);
open_system(simple_mcu_model);
add_block('simulink/Sources/Constant', [simple_mcu_model '/Constant'], 'Value', '5');
add_block('simulink/Math Operations/Gain', [simple_mcu_model '/Gain'], 'Gain', '3');
add_line(simple_mcu_model, 'Constant/1', 'Gain/1');
# Set SystemTargetFile to 'ert.tlc' for Embedded Coder
# Your code here

Hint

Use set_param with the model name and 'SystemTargetFile' parameter.

3

Generate Embedded Coder code

Use the rtwbuild function with the model name simple_mcu_model to generate the Embedded Coder code for the MCU.

Simulink

simple_mcu_model = 'simple_mcu_model';
new_system(simple_mcu_model);
open_system(simple_mcu_model);
add_block('simulink/Sources/Constant', [simple_mcu_model '/Constant'], 'Value', '5');
add_block('simulink/Math Operations/Gain', [simple_mcu_model '/Gain'], 'Gain', '3');
add_line(simple_mcu_model, 'Constant/1', 'Gain/1');
set_param(simple_mcu_model, 'SystemTargetFile', 'ert.tlc');
# Generate code using rtwbuild
# Your code here

Hint

Call rtwbuild with the model name to build the code.

4

Display generated code files

Use dir to list the generated C code files in the folder simple_mcu_model_ert_rtw and print the file names.

Simulink

simple_mcu_model = 'simple_mcu_model';
new_system(simple_mcu_model);
open_system(simple_mcu_model);
add_block('simulink/Sources/Constant', [simple_mcu_model '/Constant'], 'Value', '5');
add_block('simulink/Math Operations/Gain', [simple_mcu_model '/Gain'], 'Gain', '3');
add_line(simple_mcu_model, 'Constant/1', 'Gain/1');
set_param(simple_mcu_model, 'SystemTargetFile', 'ert.tlc');
rtwbuild(simple_mcu_model);
# List and print generated C code files
# Your code here

Hint

Use dir to get files and disp to print their names.