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CAN Replay

Replay logged CAN messages

  • CAN Replay block

Libraries:
Vehicle Network Toolbox / CAN Communication

Description

The CAN Replay block replays logged messages from a .mat file to a CAN network or to Simulink®. You need a CAN Configuration block to replay to the network.

To replay messages logged in the MATLAB® Command window in your Simulink model, convert them into a compatible format using canMessageReplayBlockStruct and save the result to a separate file. For more information, see Log and Replay CAN Messages.

Note

You need a license for both Vehicle Network Toolbox™ and Simulink software to use this block.

Replay Timing

When you replay logged messages, Simulink uses the original timestamps on the messages. When you replay to a network, the timestamps correlate to real time, and when you replay to the Simulink input port it correlates to simulation time. If the timestamps in the messages are all 0, all messages are replayed as soon as the simulation starts, because simulation time and real time will be ahead of the timestamps in the replayed messages.

Other Supported Features

The CAN Replay block supports the use of Simulink Accelerator™ Rapid Accelerator mode. Using this feature, you can speed up the execution of Simulink models.

For more information on this feature, see the Simulink documentation.

The CAN Replay block supports the use of code generation along with the packNGo function to group required source code and dependent shared libraries. For more information, see Code Generation.

Code Generation

Vehicle Network Toolbox Simulink blocks allow you to generate code, enabling models containing these blocks to run in Accelerator, Rapid Accelerator, External, and Deployed modes.

Code Generation with Simulink Coder

You can use Vehicle Network Toolbox, Simulink Coder™, and Embedded Coder® software together to generate code on the host end that you can use to implement your model. For more information on code generation, see Generated Code Compilation (Simulink Coder).

Shared Library Dependencies

The block generates code with limited portability. The block uses precompiled shared libraries, such as DLLs, to support I/O for specific types of devices. With this block, you can use the packNGo function supported by Simulink Coder to set up and manage the build information for your models. The packNGo (Simulink Coder) function allows you to package model code and dependent shared libraries into a zip file for deployment. You do not need MATLAB installed on the target system, but the target system needs to be supported by MATLAB.

To set up packNGo:

set_param(gcs,'PostCodeGenCommand','packNGo(buildInfo)');

In this example, gcs is the current model that you want to build. Building the model creates a zip file with the same name as model name. You can move this zip file to another machine and there build the source code in the zip file to create an executable which can run independent of MATLAB and Simulink. The generated code compiles with both C and C++ compilers. For more information, see Code Compilation Customization (Simulink Coder).

Note

On Linux® platforms, you need to add the folder where you unzip the libraries to the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

Ports

Output

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This output port contains a packed CAN message logged at that particular timestep, output as a CAN_MESSAGE or signal bus of type CAN_MESSAGE_BUS.

Data Types: CAN_MESSAGE | CAN_MESSAGE_BUS

This port provides a trigger to a Function-Call subsystem when the block receives a new message. You can connect it to a Function-Call Subsystem (Simulink) to unpack and process the message.

Data Types: function-call event

Parameters

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Tip

Configure your CAN Configuration block before you configure the CAN Receive block parameters.

Specify the name and path of the file that contains logged CAN messages that you can replay. You can click Browse to browse to a file location and select the file.

Specify the variable saved in the MAT-file that holds the CAN message information.

Specify the number of times you want the message replayed in your model. You can specify any positive integer, including Inf. Specifying Inf continuously replays messages until simulation stops.

Specify if the model is replaying messages to the CAN network or an output port. When replaying to the CAN network, you must also select a Device.

Select the device on the CAN network to replay messages to. This field is unavailable if you select Output port for the Replay message to parameter.

Specify the sampling time of the block during simulation. This value defines the frequency at which the CAN Replay block runs during simulation. If the block is inside a triggered subsystem or to inherit sample time, you can specify –1 as the sample time. You can also specify a MATLAB variable for sample time. The default value is 0.01 simulation seconds. For more information, see Timing in Hardware Interface Models.

Select this option for the block to output CAN messages as a Simulink bus signal. For more information on Simulink bus objects, see Composite Interfaces (Simulink).

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced in R2011b