What is MATLAB and Simulink and who is it for?
On the one hand, MATLAB is a language and a computing environment that allows scientists and engineers from different disciplines to analyze data, design algorithms or applications, and create mathematical models without having to know programming or the hardware on which they run. On the other hand, MathWorks also offers the Simulink family of products, a graphical environment for the design, implementation, verification, validation and test of embedded control software and signal, image and video processing systems, using the methodology of design based on models, which means reduction of time and costs in development.
MATLAB and Simulink are used by research, development, and innovation departments in a wide range of organizations and industries such as aerospace and defense, automation and machinery, power generation, electronics and communications, automotive, and finance. And it is that the MathWorks software allows the design and development of a great variety of advanced products in automotive electronics, avionics, flight control and propulsion in aeronautics, satellite positioning and guidance systems, telecommunications and other electronic equipment, industrial machinery and medical devices etc on different hardware platforms, microcontrollers, DSPs or FPGAs
On the other hand, our products allow the model-based design methodology to be applied according to certification standards for the development of critical software applications in these sectors, such as DO-178C/DO-254 in aeronautics, ISO 26262 in automotive, IEC 61508 in industry, EN-50128 in the railway sector.
What are the main virtues of your products?
Both solutions are especially useful in times as competitive as the current ones that make it necessary to analyze product development processes in detail in order to optimize times and costs. MATLAB and Simulink allow early verification of the design, making possible the integration and virtual verification of systems through modeling, simulation and analysis techniques. This greatly improves the coordination of the development processes of the engineering teams and avoids costly application deployments and reduces the number of physical prototypes required, regardless of the target hardware to be used: micro, DSP, FPGA.
What benefits do MathWorks products bring to companies?
We have clients who use our products to develop models that predict electricity demand, minimizing production costs and verifying the capacity of production infrastructures. In this case, they are large companies, but also other smaller ones use them, for example, to optimize the design of equipment. One case would be the design of components for the Galileo satellite or for wireless communication systems.
MathWorks maintains agreements with more than 400 companies that develop solutions for different fields of activity, compatible with MATLAB and Simulink.
We maintain direct contact with the client based on their needs. MathWorks has a presence in 34 countries between subsidiaries and distributors, and in addition to marketing its portfolio of tools, it provides official and certified training services in many areas such as technical calculation, computational economics, mechatronics, signal processing, image and video. , control systems, communications, integrated, etc., as well as consulting to ensure the ROI of the implementation. On the other hand, the company has Advisory Groups, where users from companies and organizations from different industrial sectors share their main challenges and also explain how our products can help them address them. This feedback is integral to our product roadmaps and development processes. For example, in a recent MAB (MathWorks Advisory Board) in the United States in which the new version of Simulink (R2012b) was presented, we collected the positive opinions of the users about its functionalities, which will help the design of the new Simulink versions. in 2013.
What have been the latest MathWorks innovations?
Our technology is the result of intense R&D work carried out by a large part of our staff, currently made up of more than 2.400 employees who adapt the products according to the needs of the users, the requests of the clients and the evolution in terms of improvements in the features and performance of the hardware and the diffusion of new platforms.
Examples of successful application of MathWorks technology are numerous. One of them is that of the Spanish company Deimos Space, which developed the Granada application that enables the complete simulation of the European Galileo global positioning system. For this, our tools allowed the generation of efficient code that makes it possible to simulate the generation and transmission of signals, the design of the software receiver algorithms and the implementation of the receiver architecture. As a result, we can highlight the 40% reduction in development time and costs required for this application, which, of course, complies with ESA software engineering standards. On the other hand, I would also like to highlight the case of the railway company Alstom, which has used MathWorks tools to control magnetic units in trams, subways and trains. The power converters used in these modes of transport are highly sophisticated, and safety and real-time responsiveness are essential. Alstom has relied on tools such as MATLAB and Simulink to design, simulate, implement and verify these complex systems through real-time automatic code generation for its power conversion systems and energy management systems.
What is MathWorks' relationship with the University and R&D centers?
MathWorks maintains a strong link with the academic and student community. We have been collaborating, for example, with university competitions such as Formula Student or RoboSub, as well as supporting publishers to promote scientific dissemination. Today there are more than 1.400 books by researchers and scholars based on MATLAB in 28 languages. And around the world, MathWorks solutions are used in more than 5.000 colleges and universities and research centers. MATLAB is a tool known by scientists and engineers since its academic stage, since they learn to use this high-level technical calculation language in their university education as it is incorporated into the programs of almost all engineering, mathematics, physics, geology, etc.
What is the user profile of your products?
There are currently more than one million MATLAB users around the world, many of them active in the MATLAB Central online community. MATLAB and Simulink are considered essential tools for engineers, researchers and scientists, in their research, development and innovation processes in companies of any size in different industrial sectors, administration, technology centers, spin-offs, universities and even high school institutes. The main recipients are the R&D and engineering departments of companies and institutions.
Which sectors are the most important for your company?
Mainly the aerospace and defense, automation and machinery, power generation, electronics and communications, automotive and finance sectors. Without forgetting our commitment to the academic community and the research, innovation and development environments that delve into disciplines such as those mentioned above.
What are your goals for 2013?
We want the client to speed up and maximize the return on their investment in the development of embedded signal, image and video control or processing software. Not only capturing the value provided by the use of the tools in their field of application, but increasing the added value by adopting the model-based design methodology, incrementally improving workflows and work methods. We will help by offering customized solutions, that is, software with training services and specialized consultancy according to the needs of each client. In addition, I want to highlight that we will continue to be committed to the academic community with a special focus on earth sciences, graduates in mathematics, physics and engineering: Aeronautics, Industrial (Mechanical, Electrical and Electronic) Telecommunications and Computer Science, in signal theory and automation departments and control supporting access to low-cost targets used in education such as Lego NXP, Arduino board or Beagleboard.
