Variant Signal Dimensions

Reuse model design by using symbols to reference signal dimensions

Symbolic dimensions in Simulink® represent signal dimensions in the model. Instead of using fixed numerical values for dimensions during model development, you use symbols. This enables you to experiment with different dimension sets without altering the model each time. Wherever you need to specify a signal dimension, such as in blocks and data objects, you can use symbolic dimensions instead of numerical values. For more information on signal dimensions, see Signal Dimensions.

Symbolic dimensions are useful in scenarios where the number of data streams can vary depending on the type of system. For example, in a Simulink model for a tire-pressure monitoring system that monitors tire pressure data from multiple tires, the number of tires can vary depending on the type of the vehicle (such as cars, trucks, or motorcycles). By using a symbolic dimension numTires to represent the number of tires, you can design a model that adapts to different numbers of tires without altering the model structure.

Tire pressure monitoring model. The signal from the inport Tire Pressure is labeled with the symbolic dimension numTires.

Note

Symbolic signal dimensions differ from variable-size signals. While symbolic signal dimensions allow you to switch dimensions without altering the model structure, variable-size signals allow signals to change size dynamically during the simulation. For more information, see Variable-Size Signal Basics.

When you generate code using Embedded Coder®, the symbolic dimensions are incorporated in the generated code as preprocessor conditionals, making the code adaptable to different dimensions without needing to regenerate the code. For more information, see Implement Symbolic Dimensions for Array Sizes in Generated Code (Embedded Coder).

Topics

Featured Examples

Create a Model with Symbolic Dimensions

Create a Model with Symbolic Dimensions

Use symbolic dimensions in a Simulink® model to design one model for many variants of a system that differ in signal dimensions.