In the earlier chapters we've developed a simple cruise controller model and the controlled car model, and then we've tested and fine-tuned the controller model. All the work has been done in Simulink only.
We couldn't perform our model testing on something other than the car model, because we still lack an interface with an external system, outside Simulink. This external system could be the real car for those lucky ones who have a spare 147 GTA in their garage and all the hardware needed to command its engine control unit, or—more realistically—a car simulation software like the one provided with this book.
In this chapter we'll take a first look at the software and understand how it is exchanging the data.
We'll then learn how to develop custom blocks to communicate with the application and use them with our cruise controller model. Those custom blocks will be developed with the MATLAB scripting language, which has the advantage of having a simple and intuitive...