Simulate Variant Models Using Variant Configurations

R2026b

Step 10 of 11 in Simulink Variant Manager Basics

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When you simulate a variant model programmatically, you can use a variant configuration defined using Simulink^® Variant Manager™ rather than setting the control variable values manually. You need only to specify the configuration name in a Simulink.SimulationInput object for your model. This object lets you apply changes temporarily, so you can run simulations without modifying the model. This method also improves traceability because the simulation output is linked to the specific configuration used for that run.

In this example, you simulate the slexVariantManagerOverviewGS model using a specific variant configuration, and then run multiple simulations in parallel using available configurations.

Open Example Model

This tutorial uses the example model slexVariantManagerOverviewGS, which comes with a minimal set of variant configurations. You can use this model to follow along with the steps in the tutorial.

modelName = "slexVariantManagerOverviewGS";
open_system(modelName);

Simulate Model

Programmatically simulate the slexVariantManagerOverviewGS model using the variant configuration LinearBasic.

1. Create a SimulationInput object named simInp to store the simulation settings.

   simInp = Simulink.SimulationInput(modelName);

2. Set the variant configuration. Assign the LinearBasic configuration to the SimulationInput object.

   simInp = setVariantConfiguration(simInp, "LinearBasic");

3. Run the simulation.

   simOut = sim(simInp, ShowProgress="on");

4. Use the Scope block connected to the Plant component in the model to view the simulation signals and verify the simulation output.

   

5. Try to find the variant configuration used during this simulation.

   Open Simulation Manager to explore the simulation data.

   openSimulationManager(simInp, simOut);

   In the Simulations tab, in the tabular view of simulations, click the button and select Variant Configuration to display the column in the table. You can also select a row in the table and view the configuration name in the Simulation Details pane.

   Tip

   Simulation Manager shows the variant configuration only if the configuration was set using the Simulink.SimulationInput object.

   

Run Parallel Simulations

Run parallel simulations programmatically for the slexVariantManagerOverviewGS model using available variant configurations.

1. First, find the variant configurations object linked to your model. The object contains the predefined configurations specified as a structure array.

   modelName="slexVariantManagerOverviewGS";
   vcd = Simulink.VariantManager.getVariantConfigurations(modelName)
   vcd =
   
     VariantConfigurations with properties:
   
        Configurations: [1×7 struct]
        Constraints: [1×2 struct]
        PreferredConfiguration: ''

2. Extract the configuration names as a cell array and find the number of configurations in the object.

   cfgNames = {vcd.Configurations.Name};
    numCfgs = length(cfgNames);

3. Create an array of Simulink.SimulationInput objects of size numCfgs.

   simIns(1: numCfgs ) = Simulink.SimulationInput(modelName);

4. Set the variant configuration name for each SimulationInput object in the array.

   simIns = setVariantConfiguration(simIns,cfgNames);

5. Run the simulations in parallel.

   simOuts = parsim(simIns, ShowProgress="on");

6. Check the simulation results. Open Simulation Manager to explore the outputs.

   openSimulationManager(simIns, simOuts);

   If the simulation does not finish and you see errors or warnings, look at the Diagnostics tab for more information.