MATLAB Simulink overview and installation

Experienced MATLAB users know that it has the capability to link model elements and subsystems in diagrams to external requirements specifications maintained in Microsoft Word. Polarion leverages this capability to enable linking of MATLAB model components to requirements managed with Polarion application lifecycle management products. This can be a significant advantage for MATLAB users who design components in companies and industries with stringent compliance mandates.

Polarion's technology is designed from the outset to facilitate wide and deep traceability through every engineering phase. In the case of MATLAB and Polarion, MATLAB model elements and subsystems can be linked to granular requirements specifications maintained in Polarion's exclusive LiveDoc documents. Process is efficiently managed across disciplines and stakeholders by means of workflow, which can be customized to suite the customers exact needs (if these fall outside the parameters of Polarion's robust default workflows for software and systems engineering projects). Inevitable change during the product lifecycle is easily managed and, most importantly, automatically tracked so that at any given time it is possible to trace who changed what, when, and why.

Traceability extends onward into testing. Test cases are linked to requirements in Polarion, which in turn link to MATLAB components, so it is easy to understand the extent of test coverage for all components and what is tested (and how). A comprehensive historical record of testing activity is automatically maintained as well.

Creating this robust traceability is like the old joke about eating an elephant one bite at a time. By creating appropriate links every time an artifact is created, you end up with forensic levels of traceability that can satisfy the most exacting requirements.

For example, suppose the process starts with business cases created in a business case specification document. When requirements engineers create, for example, a functional requirement, they link it to the relevant business case(s) with appropriate link role(s) which describe the nature of the relationship. Then, when testers create a test case, they link it to the requirement(s) it verifies, again with an appropriate link role — covers or verifies, for example.

When engineers use MATLAB to design some hardware component, they have the option of linking model elements to existing requirements in a Polarion project, or creating and subsequently linking to new requirements in Polarion. Such new requirements can either be written up by the modeling engineer, or assigned to a requirements engineer for completion. As requirements are completed, they can be assigned to testers —possibly automatically via workflow— who them create and link test cases. The end result is traceability from a MATLAB model element to a requirement (or multiple requirements), and from the requirement(s) to test cases, which later on will be linked to Test Runs to record manual or automated test executions.

This topic set explains how to set up a connection between a MATLAB installation and a Polarion project hosted on a Polarion server, and how to link model elements to existing or new requirements (or other artifacts) in a project hosted on a Polarion server. The process involves configuring a connection to a supported MATLAB Simulink (MATLAB) system via the Polarion Connector for MATLAB Simulink.

Prerequisites for installation

It is assumed that you already have an installation of a Polarion application lifecycle management product installed, configured, and running.

To use the Polarion Connector for MATLAB Simulink, you need the following:

  • MATLAB Simulink version R2013a or later, and Simulink Verification and Validation.

  • Any version of Polarion ALM, Polarion Requirements, or Polarion QA (latest version is recommended).

    The Polarion PRO license is supported. The Polarion Reviewer license is not supported, as it does not allow users to create new Work Items.

    The connector may be integrated with an instance of Polarion SaaS, but this requires customization of the instance by Polarion IT Services at additional cost.

Connector installation procedure

  1. Download the Polarion Connector for MATLAB Simulink.

  2. Extract content of the ZIP distribution archive file into an empty folder on the computer hosting MATLAB.

  3. Start MATLAB and switch to the folder. For example, type cd <folder path>, replacing <folder path> with the actual path to the folder where you saved the distribution.

  4. Run the startup.p file.

    Note:

    MATLAB might warn you: MATLAB cannot run this file because <some file> shadows it in the MATLAB path. You may select option Change Folder or Add to path to continue.

When you run the installation program for the first time, it can display additional instructions on how to extend your existing environment (if you already have startup.p files in your paths).

Next steps

  1. Configure a connection between your Polarion server and your MATLAB installation.

  2. Publish MATLAB elements to Polarion Work Items.