MathWorks R2012a software update

Release 2012a (R2012a) of MATLAB and Simulink families updates includes the introduction of HDL Coder, which generates HDL code from either MATLAB or Simulink for prototyping and implementation on FPGAs or ASICs.

Also launched is the HDL Verifier, which replaces EDA Simulator Link and adds Altera FPGA hardware-in-the-loop support. It also updates 84 other products, including Polyspace embedded software verification products.

For MATLAB, the highlights include: unified functions for 1D, 2D and 3D numerical integration and improved performance of basic maths and interpolation functions; compiler runtime available for download, simplifying distribution of compiled applications and components; image processing toolbox: automatic image registration using intensity metric optimisation; statistics toolbox: enhanced interface for fitting, prediction and plotting with linear, generalised linear and nonlinear regression; system identification toolbox: identification of continuous-time transfer functions; coder: code generation from user-defined system objects and automated generation of dynamic shared libraries; communications system toolbox: USRP radio support, LTE MIMO channel models, and GPU support for LDPC, turbo decoder and other algorithms.

Highlights for Simulink include: ability to run models directly on target hardware including Lego Mindstorms NXT and BeagleBoard; embedded coder: Autosar 4.0 compatibility, reduced data copies and linking of code generation reports with web views; SimMechanics: second-generation multibody modelling and simulation technology with new 3D visualisation; real-time Windows target: real-time execution of models in Windows using normal mode.