Re: Octave-Scilab co-simulation toolbox

[Romanov Alexey]

For now, I've done tests only on Linux machine, so it will be great, if some 
one who use Octave with Windows will try to use sci_cosim toolbox. But I dont't 
think this is a big problem. Lot's of commercial software for Windows use local 
TCP/IP connections (for example B&R Automation Studio in simulation mode). 
Sockets toolbox is mentioned as dependency, so user is informed, that Octave 
will need firewall permissions for co-simulation with SciLab.

Alexey Romanov

17.11.2015, 16:55, "Nicholas Jankowski" <address@hidden>:
>  On Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 5:38 AM, Romanov Alexey <address@hidden> wrote:
>>  Hi,
>>  I've finished sci_cosim toolbox. The main idea of this toolbox is to add 
>> the Simulink functionality into Octave.  From the point of view of a 
>> researcher Simulink is an external application for MATLAB, that just shares 
>> common variable workspace. As you now the most featured open source Simulink 
>> alternative is xcos from Scilab. I tried to use Scilab as my main tool, but 
>> its quite different from Octave. Also there is no working debugger in 
>> Scilab. So I've decided to use xcos as an alternative for Simulink and 
>> Octave as an alternative for MATLAB, and write toolbox for variable exchange 
>> between those programs workspaces.
>>
>>  To use sci_cosim you will need octave 4.0.0 with sockets toolbox, and 
>> Scilab 5.5.2 with Toolbox Backdoor (could be added by ATOMS package manager 
>> from Technical category).
>>
>>  sci_cosim toolbox has few functions and very simple to use.
>>
>>  First you should manually run both Octave and Scilab. Also check that 
>> Toolbox Backdoor was correctly loaded in SciLab. It should write "BackDoor: 
>> listening to connections on TCP port 28020" in Scilab console during startup.
>>
>>  Once per session you should run  sci_connect  function in Octave to connect 
>> to Scilab. In the end of session you should disconnect from Scilab using 
>> sci_disconnect
>>
>>  After that you can transfer any variables to Scilab workspace using  
>> sci_setvar function, and back from Scilab to Octave workspace using  
>> sci_getvar function;
>>  Also you can set variables and even  execute commands in Scilab with 
>> sci_cmd function.
>>
>>  And of course you can start xcos simulation from Octave using  sci_sim  
>> function, same as Simulink simulation could be started using sim command.
>>
>>  With sci_cosim toolbox you can use only xcos without using Scilab scripting 
>> for your simulations.
>>
>>  sci_sim_example.m contains simple example of sci_cosim toolbox usage. To 
>> run it correct, sci_sim_example.m and sci_ap_model.xcos should be in 
>> Octave's current directory.
>>
>>  On my PC there wasn't any critical perfomance changes between running xcos 
>> simulation from Octave and Scilab scripts.
>>
>>  Toolboxs prepared package and source code can be found on 
>> https://github.com/amromanov/sci_cosim
>>
>>  Do not hesitate to contact me in case of any questions or bugs found.
>>
>>  Alexey Romanov
>
>  Since it's locally handshaking via TCP ports, anticipate any firewall issues 
> on Windows machines?  I recall it being a repeated issue on older versions of 
> Maxima that used sockets to connect the gui to the executable.  Not really a 
> huge issue, just 'one more thing' to possibly look out for.
>
>  As Simulink is a 'critical app' used to justify the need for Matlab over 
> FOSS alternatives, I think this is definitely positive progress.
>
>  Nick J.