Using Simulink

Solvers

Simulink simulates a dynamic system by computing its states at successive time steps over a specified time span, using information provided by the model. The process of computing the successive states of a system from its model is known as solving the model. No single method of solving a model suffices for all systems. Accordingly, Simulink provides a set of programs, known as solvers, that each embody a particular approach to solving a model. The Simulation Parameters dialog box allows you to choose the solver most suitable for your model (see Solvers).

Fixed-Step Solvers Versus Variable-Step Solvers

Simulink solvers fall into two basic categories: fixed-step and variable-step.

Fixed-step solvers solve the model at regular time intervals from the beginning to the end of the simulation. The size of the interval is known as the step size. You can specify the step size or let the solver choose the step size. Generally decreasing the step size increases the accuracy of the results while increasing the time required to simulate the system.

Variable-step solvers vary the step size during the simulation, reducing the step size to increase accuracy when a model's states are changing rapidly and increasing the step size to avoid taking unnecessary steps when the model's states are changing slowly. Computing the step size adds to the computational overhead at each step but can reduce the total number of steps, and hence simulation time, required to maintain a specified level of accuracy for models with rapidly changing or piecewise continuous states.

Continuous Versus Discrete Solvers

Simulink provides both continuous and discrete solvers.

Continuous solvers use numerical integration to compute a model's continuous states at the current time step from the states at previous time steps and the state derivatives. Continuous solvers rely on the model's blocks to compute the values of the model's discrete states at each time step.

Mathematicians have developed a wide variety of numerical integration techniques for solving the ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that represent the continuous states of dynamic systems. Simulink provides an extensive set of fixed-step and variable-step continuous solvers, each implementing a specific ODE solution method (see Solvers).

Discrete solvers exist primarily to solve purely discrete models. They compute the next simulation time step for a model and nothing else. They do not compute continuous states and they rely on the model's blocks to update the model's discrete states.

Note    You can use a continuous solver, but not a discrete solver, to solve a model that contains both continuous and discrete states. This is because a discrete solver does not handle continuous states. If you select a discrete solver for a continuous model, Simulink disregards your selection and uses a continuous solver instead when solving the model.

Simulink provides two discrete solvers, a fixed-step discrete solver and a variable-step discrete solver. The fixed-step solver by default chooses a step size and hence simulation rate fast enough to track state changes in the fastest block in your model. The variable-step solver adjusts the simulation step size to keep pace with the actual rate of discrete state changes in your model. This can avoid unnecessary steps and hence shorten simulation time for multirate models (see Determining Step Size for Discrete Systems for more information).

Minor Time Steps

Some continuous solvers subdivide the simulation time span into major and minor time steps, where a minor time step represents a subdivision of the major time step. The solver produces a result at each major time step. It uses results at the minor time steps to improve the accuracy of the result at the major time step.

Atomic Versus Virtual Subsystems

Zero-Crossing Detection