Dear Desktop Engineering Reader: Maplesoft, the engineering, science, and mathematics software developer that's been making the tools engineers have used to change the way world operates for 20 years, is in on a tear. Back in January, I told you about MapleSim, their new multidomain tool that lets you diagram, simulate, and model complex systems that have real-world headaches like continuous and discrete signals, hydraulics, and analog, digital, and multiphase electric circuits. Today, it's the MapleSim Connectivity Toolbox, which lets you integrate your MapleSim models with Simulink, the multidomain environment for designing and simulating dynamic and embedded systems from the MathWorks. In two words: greater productivity. The first thing this means for you is that you can create high-fidelity models of complex systems in MapleSim, which uses an graphical interface that kind of reminds me of LabVIEW in that it's so intuitive once you start using it. Once you have your model and have optimized it using MapleSim's optimization tools, you can then pretty much automatically convert your MapleSim model to an S-Function block that you put into your Simulink diagram. All your procedures and custom components made in MapleSim are convertible. Next, your exported models are compact and already optimized, a combination that helps your S-Function block run faster. Maplesoft says that test results show S-Functions with MapleSim models are as much as 10 times faster than similar models created in Simulink. And your model can go directly into your Simulink diagram, or you can save them into the Simulink Block Library to use again whenever you want. Now, here's what's really in it for you: The MapleSim Connectivity Toolbox enables you to create simulations that are fast enough for use in real-time applications. More importantly, it lets you create models of complex systems that might be too much of a bear to do in Simulink, according to Maplesoft. So, what the MapleSim Connectivity Toolbox provides you is the way to get the best of two worlds so that you can do more complex system modeling and simulations better and more quickly. That is, it helps you be more productive. Check out today's Pick of the Week write-up to learn more. You'll find links to MapleSim so that you can check it out if you haven't already. Read the Pick of the Week. Thanks, Pal — Lockwood Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering Magazine
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