After you generate production code for a component design, you need to integrate, compile, link, and deploy the code as a complete application on the embedded system. One approach is to manually integrate the code into an existing software framework that consists of an operating system, device drivers, and support utilities. The algorithm can include externally written legacy or custom code.
An easier approach to verifying a component in a target environment is to use processor-in-the-loop (PIL) simulation. For information about PIL simulations, see SIL and PIL Simulations.
Assuming that you have generated production source code and integrated required externally written code, such as drivers and a scheduler, you can verify that the integrated software operates as expected by testing it in the target environment. During testing, you can achieve either of the following goals, depending on whether you export code that is strictly ANSI® C/C++ or mixes ANSI C/C++ with code optimized for a target environment.
Goal | Type of Code Export |
---|---|
Maximize code portability and configurability | ANSI C/C++ |
Simplify integration and maximize use of processor resources and code efficiency | Mixed code |
Regardless of your goal, you must integrate required external drivers and scheduling software. To achieve real-time execution, you must integrate the real-time scheduling software.
To maximize code portability and configurability, limit the application code to ANSI/ISO® C or C++ code only, as the following figure shows.
To simplify code integration and maximize code efficiency for a target environment, use Embedded Coder® features for:
Controlling code interfaces
Exporting subsystems
Including target-specific code, including compiler optimizations
The following figure shows a mix of ANSI C/C++ code with code that is optimized for a target environment.
The workflow for running software component tests in the target environment is:
Integrate external code, for example, for device drivers and a scheduler, with the generated C or C++ code for your component model. For more information, see S-Functions and Code Generation. For more specific references that depend on your verification goals, see the following table.
For | See |
---|---|
ANSI C/C++ code integration | Integrate C Functions Using Legacy Code Tool. Also, open rtwdemos and navigate to the
Custom Code folder. |
Mixed code integration |
|
Simulate the integrated component model.
Generate code for the integrated component model.
Connect to data interfaces for the generated C code data structures. See
Exchange Data Between Generated and External Code Using C API and Export ASAP2 File for Data Measurement and Calibration. Also see examples rtwdemo_capi
and rtwdemo_asap2
.
Customize and control the build process, if required. See Customize Post-Code-Generation Build Processing, and example
rtwdemo_buildinfo
.
Create a zip file that contains generated code files, static files, and
dependent data to build the generated code in an environment other than your
host computer. See Relocate Code to Another Development Environment, and example
rtwdemo_buildinfo
.