Variant Systems
In Model Based Design workflows, variant design is a method for managing design alternatives in one artifact. Variant design in Simulink® is expressed as a conditional manifestation of components within a single model. A meaningful combination of these variants is defined and managed as a variant configuration. The variant configuration, or variant design, enables organizations to design product lines such as automobiles, aircraft, or electronics that satisfy diverse market needs, customer preferences, and geographic requirements on a common platform. Simulink variant capabilities allow you to create flexible models with built-in variabilities to more efficiently manage, configure, and reuse your designs. For information on the basics of variants, see What Are Variants and When to Use Them.
For example, consider a product line of passenger cars, where each variant differs in properties such as fuel consumption, motor type, or emission standard. Instead of designing multiple models to represent all possible variants, you can model all the variations in a product line using a single variant model. Simulink variant capabilities allow you to create flexible models with built-in variabilities to manage, configure, and reuse your designs more efficiently.
Using Variant Blocks and Variant Manager for Simulink you can:
Define and manage multiple variant configurations.
Easily switch between valid configurations.
Generate C/C++code for all variants.
For information on variant capabilities at various stages of the development process, see V-Model for System Development with Simulink Variants.
Variants Basics
- What Are Variants and When to Use Them
- Variant Terminology
- Introduction to Variant Controls
- Working with Variant Choices
- Create Variant Controls Programmatically
- Activate Variant During Different Stages of Simulation and Code Generation Workflow
- Propagate Variant Conditions to Define Variant Regions with Variant Blocks
- V-Model for System Development with Simulink Variants
Categories
- Variant Structures
Implement structural variations in a single layer or a separate hierarchy
- Variant Signal Dimensions
Reuse model design by using symbols to reference signal dimensions
- Variant Parameter Values
Implement value variations in block parameters
- Manage Variant Modeling Components
Manage variant elements and define, reduce, and analyze variant configurations
- Variant Code Generation
Generate code for models containing variant blocks, variant parameters, variant transitions, and symbolic dimensions
Related Information
- Variant Component (System Composer)
- Using Variant Connectors to Implement Variations in Physical Networks (Simscape)
- AUTOSAR Variants (AUTOSAR Blockset)
- Control Indicator Lamp Dimmer Using Variant Conditions (Stateflow)