From spreadsheet in simulink real time

Hello I’m interested in importing data from an Excel sheet or CSV file into a real time application but trying to build it I get the error “from spreadsheet block supports rapid simulation target and the following simulation modes: normal, accelerator and rapid accelerator”, is there a way to import data from files for a real time application?

[Jaswanth]

Could you provide more details about the error you are facing? Also, by real time application, do you mean Simulink Real-Time Explorer?

[Enzo Yacometti]

The error is the one I stated above and it occurs when trying to build the model into a real time application for a speedgoat target machine (using Simulink Real Time). It doesn’t give any more info, it just throws the error and doesn’t allow the build to continue…

Answer 1

[Anshuman]

Hi Enzo,

When working with real-time applications in MATLAB and Simulink, certain blocks that are available for simulation are not supported for real-time execution. The "From Spreadsheet" block, as indicated by the error message, does not support real-time targets directly.

However, you can import data from Excel sheets or CSV files for use in a real-time application by pre-processing the data before compiling your real-time application. Here's a general approach on how to do it:

1. Read the data into MATLAB workspace using MATLAB functions such as "readtable", "xlsread", or "csvread".
2. Process the data if necessary.
3. Once you have your data in the workspace, save it to a MAT-file.
4. In your Simulink model, you can use the "From File" or "From Workspace" block to load the data from the MAT-file. These blocks are typically supported for real-time applications.
5. Make sure that the block is configured correctly for real-time execution. For the "From File" block, you'll need to ensure that the file is formatted correctly (as a MAT-file with a time series or a structure with time), and for the "From Workspace" block, you'll need to use an appropriate format supported by real-time targets.
6. Once you have incorporated the data into your model using the appropriate block, you can proceed to build and deploy your real-time application.

[Enzo Yacometti]

Thank you very much. I was surprised to not see a warning in the “From Spreadsheet” page about this incompatibility, maybe it’s something worth mentioning there. Cheers!