Shall I jump?

[Kaz44]

Forum members,
I am new to this forum and new to MATLAB envirnoment as well, I just have a quick question and hopefuly would get a good responce from you guys,I am working on a massive project that runs over 3 years, during current phase of the project I have to do some tests on DC motor control using different sensing devices (encoder, potentiometer,hall effect sensor). I have been directed to use MATLAB by my manager which I have never used before. I just wanted to ask you guys, how easy will it be to control motor in MATLAB keeping in mind that I have no knowledge at all of MATLAB envirnoment before, I have developed control systems using microcontrollers and PLCs so I have decent knowledge of hardware and software development, will that knowledge be helpful here ? what you guys suggest from where should I start ? what tutorials you recommend? I don't expect to become expert in MATLAB in a month I just want to use its features necessary for my particular application.

any assistance would be much appreciated

Regards
Kaz

 

[SomptingGuy]

It sounds to me like you are deciding whether to use Simulink rather than just Matlab.

Simulink may be dominant in industry, but it isn't really a natural simulation environment, because it's causal. You need to know how things interact before you can model them. Miss out one bit of information feedback and the model won't work.

Simulink however, has two outstanding assets:

1) It has perhaps the lowest entry barrier of any simulation environment I've ever used (and I have used many, believe me). A 2 minute introduction to the basics is all you need and then everything else builds on that. The learning curve is continuous and smooth.

2) It has seamless connection with Matlab and Matlab is (in my opinion) the best environment you're ever going to find for data analysis and investigation. And let's face it, simulations spew output data like there's no tomorrow.

I also think that if you are using Matlab for 3 years, you'll find all sorts of other uses for it in that time, to the point where you can't do without it.

 

[Kaz44]

Cheerz SomptingGuy,

Yes you are right its simulink which I have to concentrate on and work on, I must admit that your comments about simulink have made my life bit easier.
I do not have to use MATLAB for 3 years as when I will move on from this phase of project I will be working on microcontrollers based on the results obtained from simulink but well who knows, once I am in, I fall in love with MATLAB/Simulink and stick to it. But at the moments thats for sure that I want to learn simulink.

Regards
Kaz