whatsnew.txt

MATLAB在飞行动力学和控制中应用的工具

New and changed features in version 1.3 SR2
===========================================
After the release of version 1.2 it was planned not to distribute a new
FDC version until a significantly better user-interface would have been
developed. However, due to the release of Matlab 5 / Simulink 2 it proved
to be necessary to make an interim-release of the package. Version 1.3 of
the FDC toolbox is therefore nothing more than a somewhat improved version
1.2 with Matlab 5 / Simulink 2 compatibility. Full Matlab 5 / Simulink 2
functionality has not yet been obtained, but the package will certainly keep
evolving in the right direction.

Here's a list with new features (see HISTORY.TXT for a complete review since
the very first version of the FDC toolbox):

*  The user-interface of the load routines LOADER and INCOLOAD has been
   improved by applying the function UIGETFILE to specify the filename
   and path.

*  The user-interface of the save routines within ACTRIM and ACLIN has been
   improved by applying UIPUTFILE to specify the filename and path.

*  Previous versions of the FDC toolbox used the block-diagram of the
   aircraft model as an S-function. Unfortunately, the ability to use a
   block diagram as an S-function wasn't implemented in Simulink 2.0.
   The Mathworks claims that there is no workaround and that work is in
   progress to reimplement this functionality or an equivalent for a later
   release, but that doesn't solve the problem. For that reason, the
   S-function blocks that call the aircraft model from the systems OLOOP1,
   OLOOP2, OLOOP3, APILOT1, APILOT2, and APILOT3 have been replaced by a
   masked subsystem-equivalent of the S-function BEAVER. Actually, this
   change has several advantages over the original version, in particular
   since the potential disadvantages of this method have largely been
   eliminated by other new Simulink options such as the improved block-
   library support. The most noticable consequences of the use of a subsystem
   equivalent of the S-function BEAVER are:

   - The size of the systems OLOOP1, OLOOP2, OLOOP3, APILOT1, APILOT2, and
     APILOT3 has been increased considerably. Luckily, downloading is still
     quite fast due to the new MDL file-format.
   - The input/output connections in the block-diagrams were streamlined,
     although care has been taken to maintain system compatibility by using
     the same input/output signals as before. In fact, a more radical
     simplification of the input/output relations of the aircraft model can
     be obtained here, but that will be postponed for a future release of
     the toolbox.

*  A completely new on-line help facility, based upon HTML language, has
   been created. As in FDC 1.2, double-clicking on title blocks in Simulink
   diagrams opens the on-line help facility, but the new version uses a
   web-browser to show the help texts (note: the on-line help facility won't
   function without a web-browser!). Some advantages:

   - fundamentally improved lay-out and enhanced readability
   - hyperlinks provide connections to related subjects in the on-line help
     database

   Moreover, additional help-texts for APINIT, APMODE, NAVLIB, WINDLIB, and
   RECOVER have been created, and a large number of small errors and
   omissions in the old help texts (*.HLP) have been fixed. In addition,
   pressing the HELP button of a masked Simulink block from the FDC toolbox
   now provide an automatic link to your web-browser. The HELP subfolder
   of the FDC toolbox still contains the old *.HLP files (even slightly
   improved ones) for compatibility reasons.

   Note: typing fdchelp('index') at the command-line will reveal the index-
   page of the HTML-helpfiles for FDC 1.3.

*  Clicking the HELP button of masked subsystems now provides a direct link
   to the new HTML helpfiles. Much more comfortable than before!

*  Many small editorial changes to the models and tools help improve their
   readability.

*  Autopilot systems: button-blocks now contain the names of the Matlab
   routines which will run after the blocks are double clicked. Subsystem
   `Computational Delay & Limiters' has got its own on-line help text.

*  Graphical systems now stored in the new MDL format of Simulink 2.
   The `button'-library BUTTONS has been renamed to FBUTTONS to prevent
   clashes with the new Matlab 5 routine BUTTONS.M.

*  FDCLIB, NAVLIB, and WINDLIB are now saved as Simulink libraries instead
   of 'ordinary' Simulink models (also a new feature of Simulink 2).

*  To prevent Simulink from issuing warning messages about blocks which
   were purposedly left unconnected, the ground and termination blocks
   from Simulink 2 have been applied. This is for instance clearly
   visible in the systems OLOOP1, OLOOP2, and OLOOP3 and the autopilot
   systems. If you don't mind the warning messages you may delete these
   blocks, since their appearance in the graphical systems is actually
   quite ugly...

*  Several blocks from the Simulink block-diagrams were replaced by new
   Simulink 2 versions.

*  Removed revision dates from title blocks of subsystems. Revision date
   is now only shown in masked subsystems and top-level (saves me a lot of
   time and prevents confusing mistakes). Replaced title blocks for auto-
   pilot control modes by simple blue text-line and added similar lines to
   autopilot-blocks which previously didn't have a title-block at all.

*  All graphical block-diagrams are now optimized for a screen-resolution
   of 800x600 pixels or more (was 640x480 or more).

*  Formatted most Mux blocks as thin black bars (makes the systems more
   comprehensive).

*  Added revision history lists to the Matlab programs.

*  The autopilot initialization routines have been improved by eliminating
   command-window messages where possible (not yet realized for places where
   user inputs are required).

*  Installation routine has been streamlined, using new self-extracting
   ZIP technology for MS-Windows. Default destination directory for the
   installation will now be C:\MATLAB\TOOLBOX\FDC13 (can be changed
   easily during the installation, e.g. if your Matlabroot is not equal
   to C:\MATLAB) and default directory used by FDC initialization routines
   is set to MATLABROOT\TOOLBOX\FDC13.

*  CONTENTS.TXT file from the subfolder DOC now only contains a file-list.
   More information is available in the CONTENTS.M files, which will be
   shown if you use HELPWIN at the command-line and double-click the
   references to the FDC subfolders.

*  FDCINIT.M now shows graphically more appealing welcome screen, which
   isn't as irritating for new users as the old welcome-screens. Furthermore,
   a menu is displayed after initialization, guiding the user to the main
   FDC library (FDCLIB) or the on-line help-texts as desired. Many smaller
   changes in this utility have improved the path-definitions for the FDC
   toolbox (hopefully eliminating some of the compatibility problems expe-
   rienced by users who ran FDC on a UNIX machine or MAC).

And for the SR1 version, additionally:

*  Converted the filenames of the HTML-helpfiles to lower-case and fixed the
   HTML-links accordingly in order to solve HTML referencing problems on
   non-Windows computers. As far as I could tell, the HTML-links in the
   Simulink systems were typeset in lower-case already, except for the block
   BLWIND in the library WINDLIB, but the links inside the HTML-files themselves
   all needed to be updated. If you still encounter link problems, please
   send an e-mail to [e-mail].

*  Included the missing REFSGNLS.HTM file.

*  Enhanced the font-lists within the HTML-helpfiles for non-Windows platforms.
   Also decreased the fontsize. The results seem to be quite good on modern
   browsers such as IE3, IE4, Netscape 3, and Netscape 4. Older browsers may
   have more problems with the lay-out, but the results will still be acceptable.
   If necessary, use the font-size option in your browser.

*  Replaced some DOS-specific path and file-separators which were left unnoticed
   in the first release of FDC 1.3 by generic 'filesep' and 'pathsep' commands.

And for the SR2 version, additionally:

*  Corrected some small bugs and further improved behavior for non-Windows
   platforms


References
==========
The main source of information about the FDC toolbox is the following
report:

    FDC 1.2 - A Simulink Toolbox for Flight Dynamics and Control
    Analysis. Marc Rauw, Zeist, The Netherlands, March 1997.

Since the toolbox has not been altered fundamentally, this reference is
still largely valid, except for some sections concerning user-interface
and on-line help functions.

Contrary to earlier plans, specific documentation for FDC 1.3 will not
be published. So far, I haven't got any user-reports about difficulties
with the documentation, so I better spend my time on upgrading the software
itself.

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The FDC toolbox. Copyright M.O. Rauw, 1994-2000. All rights reserved.