Deploy App with Live Simulation Results of Lorenz System

This example shows how to develop an app that uses callbacks for simulation inputs and outputs to view the simulation of a Simulink® model of the Lorenz system. You can then deploy the app with Simulink Compiler™.

Open and Examine the Project File

This example uses a Simulink project that contains all the files required to run this example. The project contains a Simulink model of the Lorenz system and an app, created in the MATLAB® App Designer that simulates the model with different input and output values. To learn more about how to create an app using the App Designer, see Create and Run a Simple App Using App Designer.

simulink.compiler.example.LorenzSystem

App Details

Open the LorenzSystemApp.mlapp file. You can view the code written to create this app in the Code View section of App Sesigner. The essential part of building this app is the behavior of the Simulate button. It has the following salient parts: creating the SimulationInput object, configuring it for deployment, using simulation callbacks to read the output port data and plot the data at each time step. These three functions allow you to see the live results of the simulation in the deployed app.

Create the Simulink.SimulationInput Object

In the function createSimulationInput, define an empty Simulink.SimulationInput object for the model. Use this Simulink.SimulationInput object to set simulation callbacks and variables for the model.

The simulation callback functions are used to register the callbacks. The simulink.compiler.setPostStepFcn function registers a callback that is invoked after every simulation step. The simulink.compiler.setExternalOuputsFcn registers a callback that dynamically processes the values for every output port at root level of a model during simulation.

Use the setVariable method of the Simulink.SimulationInput object to provide the parameter values to the app. Values for the simulation are obtained from the edit fields of the UI of the app. To deploy the app, use the simulink.compiler.configureForDeployment function. (Comment the line of code that calls simulink.compiler.configureForDeployment function for faster debugging.)

function simInp = createSimulationInput(app)
            % Create an empty SimulationInput object
            simInp = Simulink.SimulationInput('LorenzSystemModel');
            
            % Specify the simulation callbacks
            simInp = simulink.compiler.setPostStepFcn(simInp, @app.postStepFcn);
            simInp = simulink.compiler.setExternalOutputsFcn(simInp, @app.processOutputs);

            % Load the parameters values from the ui edit fields
            simInp = simInp.setVariable('rho',app.rhoUIC.Value);
            simInp = simInp.setVariable('beta',app.betaUIC.Value);
            simInp = simInp.setVariable('sigma',app.sigmaUIC.Value);
            simInp = simInp.setVariable('x0',app.x0UIC.Value);
            simInp = simInp.setVariable('y0',app.y0UIC.Value);
            simInp = simInp.setVariable('z0',app.z0UIC.Value);
            
            % Configure simInp for deployment
            % DEBUG TIP: Comment out the line below for
            % faster/easier debugging when runnng in MATLAB
            simInp = simulink.compiler.configureForDeployment(simInp);
        end % createSimulationInput

Simulation Callback Functions

The simulation callback functions register callbacks that allow you to read values from the output ports and to write values to the root input ports. These functions register callbacks at every simulation time step, which allows you to view live results of the simulation.

The processOutputs Callback

The simulink.compiler.setExternalOutputsFcn line refers to the function processOutputs. The processOutputs callback function processes the values for every root output port block of model during simulation. The processOutputs function is called once per port and per the sample time of the port. When the processOutputs function is called, it reads the values for every root outport block and caches those values. The postStepFcn obtains the cached values to update the plot.

  function processOutputs(app, opIdx, ~, data)
            % Called during sim to process the external output port data,
            % will be called once per port per its sample hit.
            switch opIdx
                case 1
                    app.txyzBuffer.x = data;
                case 2
                    app.txyzBuffer.y = data;
                case 3
                    app.txyzBuffer.z = data;
                otherwise
                    error(['Invalid port index: ', num2str(opIdx)]);
            end            
  end

The postStepFcn Callback

The postStepFcn callback function is invoked after every simulation step. The time argument is the time for the previous simulation step. The postStepFcn function obtains the cached outport block values for every time and passes those values to the updateTrace function to plot the cached values at simulation time.

function postStepFcn(app, time)
            % Called during sim after each simulation time step
            app.updateSimStats(time);
            if app.status == AppStatus.Starting
                app.switchStatus(AppStatus.Running);
                app.simStats.WallClockTimeAfterFirstStep = tic;
            end
            if app.stopRequested
                app.switchStatus(AppStatus.Stopping);
                stopRequestedID = [mfilename('class'), ':StopRequested'];
                throw(MException(stopRequestedID, 'Stop requested'));
            end
            %--------------------------------------------------------------
            app.txyzBuffer.t = time;
            x = [app.txyzBuffer.x];
            y = [app.txyzBuffer.y];
            z = [app.txyzBuffer.z];
            app.updateTrace(x, y, z);
            app.updateMarker('head', x, y, z);
            %--------------------------------------------------------------
            drawnow limitrate;
        end % postStepFcn

Test in App Designer

Before deploying the application, ensure that the app runs in the App Designer. Click Simulate to verify that the application works by simulating the model for different values.

Compile App for Deployment

You can use the App Designer to compile and deploy the app. You can also use the deploytool function. For more information on compiling and deploying with the App Designer, see Develop Apps Using App Designer, Web Apps and Application Compiler.

To compile the app in this example, use the mcc command followed by the app name.

mcc -m LorenzSystemApp