MATLAB® is a programming platform designed specifically for engineers and scientists to analyze and design systems and products that transform our world. The heart of MATLAB is the MATLAB language, a matrix-based language allowing the most natural expression of computational mathematics.

What can I do with MATLAB?

• Analyze data (e.g., manufacturing analytics, or equipment performance optimization)

• Develop algorithms (e.g., supervisory control, motor control, AI-based, predictive maintenance)

• Create models and applications

MATLAB lets you take your ideas from research to production by deploying to enterprise applications and embedded devices, as well as integrating with Simulink® and Model-Based Design.

You can extend MATLAB with thousands of packages and toolboxes. Some of the most popular MATLAB add-ons used for Industrial Automation and Machinery include:

• Stateflow®, a graphical language that includes state transition diagrams, flow charts, state transition tables, and truth tables

• Toolboxes for AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning

• Reinforcement Learning Toolbox™

In addition, MATLAB includes interactive apps for when point-and-click is the best way to analyze and design.

Simulink® is a block diagram environment used to design systems with multidomain models, simulate before moving to hardware, and deploy without writing code.

Simulink is used for control systems design, electrification, robotics and autonomous systems, digital twins, and artificial intelligence.

In Industrial Automation and Machinery, Simulink is used for creating virtual models to simulate and test systems early and often, to validate designs through Hardware-in-the-Loop and rapid prototyping, and to generate production-quality C, C++, IEC 61131, Verilog and VHDL code.

Some highlights of using Simulink include:

• Model-Based Design: To transform development of complex systems, market-leading companies adopt Model-Based Design by systematically using models throughout the entire process.

• Simulation: Explore a wide design space and test your systems early with multidomain modeling and simulation.

• Model-Based Systems Engineering: Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is the application of models to support the full system lifecycle. Simulink bridges development from requirements and system architecture to detailed component design, implementation, and testing.

• Agile Software Development: Agile software development helps teams deliver value to their customers faster using short iteration cycles with an emphasis on continuous integration and team collaboration. Simulation, automated testing, and code generation shorten the development cycle, enabling you to become a successful Agile team.

Simscape™ Multibody™ provides a multibody simulation environment for 3D mechanical systems, such as robots, vehicle suspensions, construction equipment, and aircraft landing gear. You can model multibody systems using blocks representing bodies, joints, constraints, force elements, and sensors. Simscape Multibody formulates and solves the equations of motion for the complete mechanical system. You can import complete CAD assemblies, including all masses, inertias, joints, constraints, and 3D geometry, into your model. An automatically generated 3D animation lets you visualize the system dynamics.

Simscape Multibody helps you develop control systems and test system-level performance. You can parameterize your models using MATLAB variables and expressions, and design control systems for your multibody system in Simulink. You can integrate hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic, and other physical systems into your model using components from the Simscape family of products. To deploy your models to other simulation environments, including hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems, Simscape Multibody supports C-code generation and FMI export.

Simulink® PLC Coder™ generates hardware-independent IEC 61131-3 Structured Text and Ladder Diagrams from Simulink models, Stateflow charts, and MATLAB functions. Structured Text is generated in PLCopen XML and other file formats supported by widely used integrated development environments (IDEs), including 3S-Smart Software Solutions CODESYS®, Rockwell Automation Studio 5000, Siemens TIA Portal, and Omron® Sysmac® Studio. Ladder diagrams are generated in file formats supported by Rockwell Automation Studio 5000. As a result, you can compile and deploy your application to numerous programmable logic controller (PLC) and programmable automation controller (PAC) devices.

Simulink PLC Coder generates test benches that help you verify the Structured Text and Ladder Diagrams using PLC and PAC IDEs and simulation tools. It also provides code generation reports with static code metrics and bidirectional traceability between model and code. Support for industry standards is available through the IEC Certification Kit (for IEC 61508 and IEC 61511).

Predictive Maintenance Toolbox™ lets you manage sensor data, design condition indicators, and estimate the remaining useful life (RUL) of a machine.

The toolbox provides functions and an interactive app for exploring, extracting, and ranking features using data-based and model-based techniques, including statistical, spectral, and time-series analysis. You can monitor the health of batteries, motors, gearboxes, and other machines by extracting features from sensor data. To estimate a machine's time to failure, you can use survival, similarity, and trend-based models to predict the RUL.

You can organize and analyze sensor data imported from local files, cloud storage, and distributed file systems. You can label simulated failure data generated from Simulink models. The toolbox includes reference examples for motors, gearboxes, batteries, pumps, bearings, and other machines that can be reused for developing custom predictive maintenance and condition monitoring algorithms.

To operationalize your algorithms, you can generate C/C++ code for deployment to the edge or create a production application for deployment to the cloud.