http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/ Newsletters from The MathWorks en-us Tue, 15 Jun 2004 04:00:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss editor@example.com http://www.mathworks.com/images/membrane_icon.gif http://www.mathworks.com webmaster@mathworks.com http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/mar/measuringprod.html Accurate measurements of productivity and quality are essential for balancing workload, creating predictable schedules and budgets, and controlling quality. Mon, 27 March 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/mar/vector.html Vectorization is one of the core concepts of MATLAB. With one command it lets you process all elements of an array, avoiding loops and making your code more readable and efficient. Mon, 27 March 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/mar/delphi.html Using tools from The MathWorks and third parties, we developed a modeling and simulation method that supports a safety program for a critical vehicle subsystem. Mon, 27 March 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/tips.html The Simulink Model Advisor enables you to check models for conditions and configuration settings to produce efficient models and generated code. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/patterns.html At The MathWorks, we frequently receive questions that ask how to share information among multiple elements, such as figures in a graphical user interface (GUI) application. In this article, we describe how to write such an application with elegant code using nested functions, a new feature in MATLAB 7. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/clevescorner/jan06.pdf The Growth of MATLAB and The MathWorks over Two Decades Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/compbio.html Life science researchers adopt the tools and methods of the engineering community. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/model_recovery.html Dr. Luitjens Popken developed an analytical model in MATLAB that enabled the remote correction of a critical communication error. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/fpga.html The Simulink family of products, Xilinx System Generator for DSP, and Xilinx FPGAs are used to develop a receiver for a 16-QAM telemetry system. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/mercedes.html The Vehicle Electrics/Electronics group at Mercedes replaced handwritten code with automatically generated code for a modified production electronic control unit. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/distrib.html By using four computers instead of one, researchers dramatically reduced run-time for a computationally intensive land cover aggregation and mosaic application. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/vip.html This automotive lane-detection system uses a small camera to transmit video information to a microprocessor installed on the vehicle. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/jan06/brain.html g.tec Medical Engineering GmbH developed a real-time biosignal processing platform for devices that convert brain waves into signals. Wed, 1 February 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/jan/simdsp.html Simulink and the Signal Processing Blockset are two of the MathWorks products for designing and analyzing fixed-point digital signal processing (DSP) systems. Fri, 27 January 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/jan/datatypes.html Two new functions in MATLAB 7.1 (R14SP3) significantly simplify working with numeric datatypes at the byte level. The typecast function converts vector datatypes without changing the underlying bytes, and swapbytes changes endianness. Fri, 27 January 2006 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/nov/colormgmt.html Color management is an essential part of the image acquisition, image processing, and image output workflow. Fri, 14 November 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/nov/genalgo.html The exploding amount of data generated by microarrays and other research methods poses problems for experimental design, visualization, and statistical analysis and interpretation. Fri, 14 November 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/sept/mobile_robots.html Researchers in the Process Control and Control Engineering Department at the University of Hagen are working on a distributed multirobot system with several cooperating ground and aerial mobile robots. Fri, 30 September 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/sept/dynfunctions.html This article discusses two new language features in MATLAB 7 - anonymous functions and nested functions Fri, 30 September 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/july/integrate_matlab.html This article provides examples for working with Bioperl and BioJava in MATLAB. Fri, 29 July 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/july/airsim.html This article describes how the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at George Mason University used MATLAB to develop a platform sensor management. Fri, 29 July 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/may/instrument.html This article will examine some standard and advanced techniques for working with instrument drivers using the Instrument Control Toolbox. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/may/fidelity.html This article describes how to use Simulink Parameter Estimation to estimate the parameters of a multidomain DC servo motor model. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/user_stories/userstory8238.html?by=industry Learn how Toyota Racing Development's Race Vehicle Engineering group is using MATLAB to analyze and process test data for all of Toyota's racing initiatives, including the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/auto_digest/apr05/mbd.html Using a steer-by-wire system example, learn about the processes, methods, and tools for the design of automotive embedded systems. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/mar/fixpt_designs.html Creating and implementing fixed-point designs is challenging because we live (and think) in a floating-point world. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/mar/sigbuilder.html This article demonstrates the Signal Builder by creating a series of test cases to test and verify an automobile cruise controller design. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/aero_digest/feb05/modeldev.html Learn how the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle project used MATLAB and Simulink to develop models of spacecraft that will ultimately service the International Space Station. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/aero_digest/feb05/codegen.html Explore how code generation and Model-Based Design with Simulink fit within software engineering frameworks for developing high-integrity flight software. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/user_stories/userstory8158.html?by=company In support of the WIN-T project, BAE Systems has developed an antenna system to provide soldiers with mobile, dependable communications. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2005/jan/legacy.html This article describes integration of code for simulation and code generation and introduces a new code integration technology, the Legacy Code Tool. Tue, 24 May 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/nov04/modeling.html The Statistics Toolbox introduces new tools for analyzing probability distributions, which are fundamental to statistical analyses such as variability analysis, sensitivity studies, hypothesis testing, and parameter estimation and prediction. Wed, 20 Nov 2005 http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/nov04/newfeatures.html MATLAB 7 introduces a number of enhancements to support large data set handling. Wed, 19 Nov 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/nov04/legacy.html This article describes legacy function integration technologies for importing and exporting code generated by Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder. Wed, 19 Nov 2005 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/auto_digest/oct04/ Meeting new emission standards and satisfying environmentally conscious car shoppers is critical to success for todays automobile manufacturers. Nissan used Model-Based Design to develop an emission reduction system for their Partial Zero Emission Vehicle. Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/auto_digest/oct04/ The MathWorks International Automotive Conference (IAC) 2004 was held in Stuttgart, Germany on June 15 and 16. Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:21:36 GMT hhttp://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/auto_digest/oct04/ In August, The MathWorks hosted an intensive four-day training program to prepare teams of engineering students to participate in Challenge X, a groundbreaking three-year design competition sponsored by General Motors Corporation (GM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/sept04/mcode_simmodels.html You can incorporate code written in the MATLAB Language (M-code) into Simulink models in a variety of ways. Mon, 27 Sept 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/sept04/measureapp.html An important new feature of the MATLAB Compiler 4 is the capability to deploy applications that use MATLAB objects, such as those provided by the Data Acquisition Toolbox. Mon, 27 Sept 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/sept04/optimization.html Engineers and scientists are constantly looking for approaches to find optimal solutions, perform tradeoff analysis, balance multiple design alternatives, and quickly incorporate optimization methods in their algorithms and models. Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/july04/intmath.html MATLAB 7 now provides integer and single-precision math. Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/july04/plot_tools.html MATLAB 7 introduces a new set of tools to let you interactively create and edit plots without typing any MATLAB code. Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/july04/linmodels.html Many engineering analysis and design methodologies require the linear approximation of complex nonlinear models. Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/july04/sysidtlbx.html The System Identification Toolbox now supports estimation and validation using frequency domain data. Thu, 29 Jul 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/june04/logicdesign.html Stateflow truth tables are the only construct in the Simulink and Stateflow environment that support static analysis of logical completeness. Wed, 23 Jun 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/june04/teaching.html Science and engineering instructors describe how they use Simulink to actively engage students in solving real-world modeling and analysis problems. Wed, 23 Jun 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/june04/fixedpoint.html The new Fixed-Point Toolbox provides fixed-point data types and arithmetic in MATLAB. Wed, 23 Jun 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/may04/uwb.html Using a Simulink model based on the multiband orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) UWB proposal submitted to the IEEE 802.15.3a standards group in September 2003, the article presents techniques for accelerating fixed-point design. Wed, 19 May 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/may04/legacycode.html Embedded applications, especially those deployed in mass-production, often require integration between automatically generated and legacy code. Wed, 19 May 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/data/1-17PWC.html?solution=1-17PWC Examples show several alternatives for connecting MATLAB and Excel. Wed, 19 May 2004 15:21:36 GMT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/bellhelicopter.html Extensive simulations help ensure a flawless first flight for a unique aircraft design. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/pharmacokinetic.html Researchers are building models that represent subsystems as graphical blocks rather than as complex differential equations. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/ilc.html Accelerator physicists at the University of London use multiple simulations and high-throughput computing to test beam-alignment algorithms. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/wimax.html Use Model-Based Design to build an executable specification for a WiMAX transmitter channel coder. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/jaguar.html System engineers streamline the workflow with Model-Based Design and a virtual breadboard. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/portfolio.html Use MATLAB and Financial Toolbox to construct realistic, optimal portfolios that are stable over time. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/cochlear.html Engineers use rapid prototyping to advance cochlear implant technology. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/kiwa.html A MATLAB based monitoring tool lets hydrologists and ecologists use time series models to collect and interpret groundwater data. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/clevescorner.html Dr. Gene Golub has made the singular value decomposition one of the most powerful and widely used tools in modern matrix computation. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/oct06/patterns.html A sample application analyzes worldwide temperature records and creates Excel charts from MATLAB data sets. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/sept/bae.html Engineers at BAE Systems, engaged in the design and development of embedded systems involving FPGAs, are highly skilled in the well-established, traditional design process based on the hand-coding of VHDL. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/sept/simple_machines.html All but the simplest rigid-body machines are designed to operate within kinematic constraints that restrict the motion of machine components independently of the forces imposed upon them. These constraints can be time-varying (rheonomic) or time-invariant (scleronomic). Dynamic analysis of these systems requires implementing such constraints between pairs of bodies. The equations representing them are typically higher-index differential algebraic equations that are very challenging to solve. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/july/pixel.html What colors do these pixel values represent? 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/july/cooling.html Engineers and scientists use a variety of approaches to improve or design quality into products. This article follows one of the popular frameworks of Design for Six Sigma practitioners-DMAIC, for define, measure, analyze, improve, and control—to demonstrate how MATLAB, the Statistics Toolbox, and the Optimization Toolbox can improve the performance of an automotive engine cooling fan. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/may/mpc555.html From windshield wiper motors to gas turbines for power plants, microcontrollers are key to a wide range of applications. Unless the microcontroller is designed for a particular task, such as controlling the flow through a valve, positioning a lens, operating a conveyor belt, or positioning a robotic arm, it must be programmed. This involves developing both a control algorithm and a device driver that will support specific I/O functionality. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/may/simmechanics.html SimMechanics and Simulink combine to form an efficient tool for simulating rigid-body mechanical systems, especially in control systems applications. These products also enable you to simulate flexible body motion-a frequent requirement in aerospace, automotive, civil engineering, and other industries. Because the SimMechanics Body block represents only a rigid body, you must first transform your continuous flexible body into an approximate form that you can represent in Simulink. SimMechanics can then simulate flexibility with a fidelity that is sufficient for many applications, such as control design. 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/nov/azure.html Azure maintains its competitive edge by using Model-Based Design to develop a common design environment, automatically generate production code, and reuse approximately 90 percent of its components. 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2006/nov/patterns.html An accurate system model is one that performs as expected and produces the desired results. To achieve this level of accuracy you must have a clear modeling goal. For example, will the model be used strictly for simulation, or for generating embedded C code? 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/mar/codecoverage.html A single line of untested code in embedded software can cause an application to fail—with serious consequences. To ensure that every line of code has been tested, software engineers measure and analyze code coverage—typically while the code executes on the target. Often the target hardware is only available at a late stage in a development project. Finding incomplete code coverage at this late stage can result in time-consuming development cycle iterations and costly reruns. 30 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/mar/synthetic.html Three-dimensional (3-D) synthetic environments provide invaluable information in a range of fields, from civil engineering to cartography and search and rescue. In my own field of aerospace, they are used for flight simulation, post-flight analysis, ground vehicle movement tracking, guidance, navigation, control design validation, and surface ship navigation. 30 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/may/matlab_hardware.html A GPS receiver example shows how you can import data from a wide range of external devices without leaving the MATLAB environment. 21 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/may/uncertainity.html Engineers and scientists rely on models to describe system behavior. System models are often created and analyzed under the assumption that the model inputs, defining parameters (constants), and operating environment are known precisely. Every real-world system operates under uncertainty, however, and failure to account for that uncertainty can lead to inaccurate predictions of system behavior. 21 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/july/copulas.html By combining two increasingly popular statistical methods, you can efficiently manage risk and characterize the behavior of portfolios during financial and economic crises. 27 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/news_notes/june07/simbiology.html Engineering tools and techniques are driving dramatic results in systems biology—from new drugs to biofuels. 27 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/sept/birdstrike.html In April 2007, a Boeing 757 that had just taken off from Manchester Airport was forced to land when a crow was sucked into one of its engines. The previous fall, an RAF Tornado crashed following another collision with a bird. 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/sept/sigmadelta.html Using disparate tools and languages to develop analog mixed-signal ICs makes the design process prone to error, time-consuming, and complicated. Model-Based Design addresses these problems by enabling engineers to complete all design stages in MATLAB and Simulink. By using a Simulink model as the cornerstone of design, teams can test and verify the design at all stages of development, reducing the chances of discovering expensive structural changes or bugs at the implementation stage. 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/july/embry.html Shortly after it reached orbit in August 1969, NASA’s spin-stabilized Applications Technology Satellite 5 (ATS5) began to wobble, sending the spacecraft into an unplanned flat spin and crippling the mission. It was later found that this event was caused by excessive fuel slosh, creating a long-standing concern about this phenomenon. 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/edu_digest/2007/aug/computational.html Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University requires all students to take Computational Methods in Engineering during their freshman year. The goal is to give students early, practical exposure to engineering concepts so that they can better decide which field of engineering they want to pursue. 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/edu_digest/2007/apr/plugin.html The College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan – Dearborn is helping to meet the growing need for more fuel-efficient vehicles with an interdisciplinary program leading to a master's degree in Automotive Systems Engineering. 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/edu_digest/2007/oct/medicalinst.html Students at the University of Washington (UW) use MATLAB and other MathWorks products in one of our most popular courses—EE436: Medical Instrumentation. EE436 has been offered at UW in one form or another for almost 15 years. The growing demand for this course among upper-division undergraduates and first-year graduate students reflects the growth of bioengineering as a discipline. 30 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/jan/zernike.html Researchers in fields as diverse as optometry, astronomy, and photonics face a common challenge: how to accurately measure structural deformations in circular optical elements such as ocular lenses or corneas (in optometry), mirrors (in astronomy) or optical fibers (in photonics), or the aberrations in optical wavefronts caused by these deformations. 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/jan/robust_design.html No design is free from uncertainty or natural variation. For example, how will the design be used? How will it respond to environmental factors or to changes in manufacturing or operational processes? These kinds of uncertainty compound the challenge of creating designs that are reliable and robust-designs that perform as expected over time and are insensitive to changes in manufacturing, operational, or environmental factors. 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/edu_digest/2008/feb/funelectric.html For individuals with neurological impairments, functional electrical stimulation (FES) can help make real what was once only imagined: the restoration of movement to paralyzed arms and legs. Depending on the location and severity of the disability, FES can significantly improve quality of life by enabling the individual to regain capabilities such as walking, grasping objects, or maintaining bladder control. 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/nov/aircraft.html As any airline passenger who has experienced moderate turbulence knows, an aircraft is not a rigid structure. In certain circumstances, the complex interaction between the flexible structure and the aerodynamics can produce undesirable effects. The phenomenon known as flutter, for example, can be extremely destructive to aircraft components such as wings and tails. 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2007/nov/mldesktop.html The MATLAB Desktop development environment offers interactive editors, browsers, and other tools to help you create, edit, and manage your data and programs. This article and the accompanying videos show how you can take advantage of many of these features and get the most out of the Desktop. All the examples were created using MATLAB 7.5, part of Release 2007b. 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/mar/matlab_oop.html Object-oriented programming (OO) applies to software development the standard science and engineering practice of identifying patterns and defining a classification system describing those patterns. Classification systems and design patterns allow engineers and scientists to make sense of complex systems and to reuse efforts by others. By applying classification systems and design patterns to programming, the OO approach improves your ability to manage software complexity-particularly important when developing and maintaining large applications and data structures. 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/mar/discrete_event.html Optimizing system resource utilization is a key design objective for system engineers in communications, electronics, and other industries. System resources such as processors, memory, or bandwidth on a communication bus are often shared by various components in the system. To understand the utilization of a shared resource, system engineers must identify constraints on the resource, such as number of processors and memory size, and analyze the effect of input traffic or load on the shared resource. 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/edu_digest/2008/apr/microscopy.html Automated microscopy enables the acquisition of high-resolution images at rates of one image per second and total numbers in the millions. These high rates pose a new challenge in cell biology: how to analyze the vast amounts of resulting data in a reasonable time frame? 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/may/DO-178B.html Software systems deployed in safety-critical applications in aerospace and other industries must satisfy rigorous development and verification standards. One of the most widely used of these standards is DO-178B, "Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification." DO-178B specifies 66 software development process objectives, distributed across various stages in the development lifecycle. It was published in 1992, when most software was hand-coded. As a result, it does not cover advanced software development technologies, and must be mapped onto the processes and tools in Model-Based Design. 20 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/may/friction.html While sometimes an obstacle, friction makes possible much that we take for granted—hence, its importance in mechanical engineering and control design. In automotive engineering, for example, friction is undesirable in pistons and cylinders, but essential in clutches and in tire-road contact. 20 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/july/hdri.html Modern digital cameras may rival the human eye's perception of color and spatial resolution, but they cannot yet match the eye's ability to manage contrast. An image sensor or display medium's contrast ratio defines the distance between the darkest black and the lightest white that the device records or displays. The eye's contrast ratio of 1:100,000 is roughly 24 times greater than the 1:4096 of a typical digital camera. As a result, even in correctly exposed photographs, shadows are often too dark and highlights too bright, creating a noticeable loss of detail. 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/digest/2008/july/tcpip.html Many embedded systems in industrial automation, machinery, robotics, and other industries communicate data via Ethernet or via a real-time Fieldbus interface such as PROFIBUS or EtherCAT. Often, the embedded system is part of a network that includes sensors or other computers that provide data via TCP/IP. TCP/IP does not lend itself to real-time operation because it is a connection-based protocol that uses a client/server model in which data is retrieved via a series of requests and responses. 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT http://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/edu_digest/2008/aug/matlab_lego.html In a lab that we call "MATLAB meets LEGO Mindstorms," more than 300 first-year students at RWTH Aachen University build and program their own robots. One student team's robot can translate a brief message into Morse code. Another can locate a bottle on a table and determine how full it is. Other robots park themselves autonomously or target and scan three-dimensional objects. 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT