TABLE OF CONTENTS Simulink is a tool for simulating dynamic systems with a graphical interface specially developed for this purpose. Within the MATLAB environment, Simulink is a MATLAB toolbox that differs from the other toolboxes, both in this special interface and in the special "programming technique" associated with it. There is a further difference, in that the source code of the Simulink system is not open, but this is of no concern for our purposes. The goal of this chapter is to introduce simple manipulations with Simulink and to clarify the interaction of Simulink with MATLAB.
As noted above, dynamic systems can be simulated using Simulink. In the great majority of cases this means linear or nonlinear time-dependent processes that can be described using differential equations or (in the case of discrete times) difference equations. Another common way of describing dynamic systems is with block diagrams.
This is an attempt to understand the behavior of the system by means of a graphical representation, which essentially consists of representations of individual components of the system together with the signal flow between these components. Fig. 2.1 is an example (for the first-order delay element VZ1; see Section 1.6). Simulink is based on this form of representation. A graphical interface is used to convert a block diagram of this sort (almost) directly into Simulink and simulate the operation of the system. We note that a well-grounded use of Simulink requires some knowledge of control technology and...
