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I/O Driver Blocks

The Simulink® Real-Time™ environment is a solution for prototyping and testing real-time systems by using a desktop computer. To apply this solution, you add I/O blocks to your model. The blocks of the Simulink Real-Time library provide a particular function of an I/O module. By using I/O blocks in your model, you can generate executable code tuned specifically to your I/O requirements.

You add I/O driver blocks to your Simulink model to connect your model to I/O modules (I/O boards). These I/O modules then connect to the sensors and actuators in a physical system.

Speedgoat I/O Modules

Speedgoat® real-time target machines are available with various I/O modules. See Speedgoat I/O Hardware.

Speedgoat I/O Blockset

You can use the blocks in the Speedgoat I/O Blockset and the blocks in the Simulink Real-Time library in your Simulink Real-Time model. For a description of the Speedgoat blocks, see Speedgoat I/O Hardware.

Simulink Real-Time Block Library

A driver block does not represent an entire board, but an I/O section supported by a board. The Simulink Real-Time library can have more than one block for each physical board. I/O driver blocks are written as C-code S-functions (noninlined S-functions). The source code for the C-code S-functions is included with the Simulink Real-Time software.

If your model contains I/O blocks, take I/O latency values into account for the model sample time.

To find latency values for Speedgoat boards, contact Speedgoat technical support.

You can open the I/O device driver library by using the Simulink library browser or by using the MATLAB® command slrealtimelib. The library slrealtimelib contains sublibraries grouped by the type of I/O function they provide.

When you double-click one of the I/O block groups, the sublibrary opens, displaying a list grouped by manufacturer. Double-clicking one of the manufacturer groups displays the I/O device driver blocks for the specified I/O functionality.

When you double-click one of the blocks, a Block Parameters dialog box opens, where you enter system-specific parameters. Parameters typically include block sample time and other block-specific parameters.

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