This Transform is no longer supported by Danlaw or dSPACE. Use dSPACE (using XIL API).

The dSPACE Connector Transform enables you to perform real-time HIL testing. This topic applies to the configuration where CLib (C libraries) are used for communication between MxTransIt and dSPACE.

hmtoggle_plus1Prerequisites

•To load the dSPACE Transform, dSPACE (or the Dscoml32.dll file) must be installed on your PC.

•To load a project with a dSPACE Transform onto a PC that does not have dSPACE installed, you can copy Dscoml32.dll from another system. dSPACE must be installed to run the project.
hmtoggle_plus11. Set Path in Matlab

So that Matlab can find the S-Function, set the path to the Mx Suite:

In Matlab, go to: File-> Set Path... Then click Add Folder, browse to the currently installed harness folder, and add the path to it. For example:

C:\Program Files\MicroMax\MxSuite 3.36.24864\Harness\dSpace
hmtoggle_plus12. Create the Transform and S-Function

1.In MxTransIt, use the Toolbox to put the dSPACE Transform into your Harness.

2.Insert the S-Function into the top level of your model.

3.Set the Tick Period property of the dSPACE Transform to 5 to 10ms or more, depending PC performance.

4.Set the Auto Export Signals property to True to be automatically export Signals on selection. This reduces the need to select which ports to export and the amount of mouse clicks while harnessing the system.
 
Set this property to False if inports need to be connected to an output of a different Transform or sub-system, and export ports manually.

dSpace-AutoExport
hmtoggle_plus13. Harness I/O Signals

There are two options for harnessing I/O with the dSPACE transform:

•Automatic harnessing using the dSPACE trace file

•Direct connection to the S-Function with a user-created CSV file

Both options can be used together.

The dSPACE Trace File (.trc) is produced when the dSPACE model is built.

Matlab S-Function

Select the S-function name that corresponds to your version of Matlab, or use the newest one.

For Trace File harnessing, use Matlab to set the parameters of the S-Function to "0 0".

dSPACE_parameters

MxTransIt Transform

1.In MxTransIt, select the dSPACE transform.

dSpace_no_ports

2.Click on the Trace File Path property and then click 3dots_button to browse to the Trace (.trc) file.

3.Click on the Selected Signals property and then click 3dots_button to bring up the Signal selector dialog.

A .csv file (format shown below) must be created by the user to define the Signal names for the direct connections.

The data type of the direct connections is always Double, 64-bit floating-point, and the corresponding .csv dictionary entries must be set to flt64.

dSpace Dictionary

Matlab S-Function

Select the S-function name that corresponds to your version of Matlab, or use the newest one.

The parameters to the S-Function must be set to the number of direct inputs and outputs. For example: "3 3" yields 3 inputs and 3 outputs that must be connected to the S-Function inside the Simulink model.

dSPACE_parameters_csv

MxTransIt Transform

1.In MxTransIt, select the dSPACE transform.

2. Use the Auxiliary Trace File Path property to set the path to the .csv file.

3.Click on the Selected Signals property and then click 3dots_button to bring up the Signal selector dialog.

The tree browser shown is similar to the Signal selector in Control Desk. The Signals are grouped by subsystems. To display Signals from subordinate branches of the Dictionary tree, check the Recursive box.

1.Select the Signals required for your testing and add them to the transform by clicking the >> button.

dSpace Trace File Signal Selector

2.Click OK after you have selected all required Signals. The selected Signals now appear as ports on the dSPACE transform.

dSpace_with_ports

3.Export the ports so they can be used in MxVDev.

Notes:

•Trace file Signals are organized in the Tree View by models and sub-models. If you know which model contains the Signals you are interested in, you can click on the node and select Signals that are needed.

•To select more that one Signal at once, press Ctrl+click to select additional Signals, or Ctrl+A to select all Signals.

•When working with a large number of Signals, you can use the search filter to reduce the number of displayed Signals.

oBy default, the filter works on the currently selected Tree Node.

oWhen the ‘Recursive’ check box is selected, the filter works on all sub-models as well.

oFor better performance, type in the search string first, then select the Recursive check-box since each keystroke starts a new search.

oTo search all available Signals, select the top most tree node. This can take some time depending on search string and number of Signals in the trace file.

hmtoggle_plus14. Set Model Timing

The MxNetSFunction is expected to be executed every 1ms. If this timer interferes with execution of your model, place the S‑Function into its own subsystem in the top level of your model. See Timing and Performance Considerations for Co-Simulation.

To change the execution rate of the subsystem in Matlab, right click on "subsystem properties"’ put a check mark next to “treat as atomic unit,” and change rate from (-1) to 0.001 s (1 ms).
hmtoggle_plus15. Select Board Name

Use the Board Name property in the dSPACE transform's properties to select the board that runs the model with the MxNetSFunction. You can use the Properties box in MxTransIt, or select Project->SUT Connector Settings->Custom Harness from the MxVDev main menu.

If your dSPACE system has multiple cores, you need to select the Board Name that corresponds to the one that runs the model. By default board names for multicore systems show up with an underscore and index. For example: ds1006, ds1006_2, etc. If you select the wrong board, MxVDev will fail to connect to dSPACE with the following error:

CLIB connection error, Failed to get address for "responsePacket" variable, clib error DS_ILLEGAL_VARIABLE_NAME (2102)

To find which core corresponds to your CPU name and corresponding application, you can use the Control Desk platform browser:

control desk platform

Related Topics:

dSPACE (using HILAPI)

dSPACE Troubleshooting

Connector Transforms

Timing and Performance Considerations for Co-Simulation