PORTLAND, Ore. — Simplifying the development of mechatronics, the combination of mechanical and electronincs engineering, is the goal of a new design language extension released Wednesday (Oct. 8) by Mathworks Inc.

Mathworks (Natick, Mass.) said its Simscape language extension will ease the modeling of an entire multidomain system--electrical, mechanical, control and software--using a single icon to represent the component in its Matlab simulation environment. Matlab is a widely used tool for algorithm development.

"Mechatronics applications, such as fuel cells, wind power systems and hybrid electric vehicles used to require the engineer to separately develop electrical, mechanical, control and software models," said Jim Tung, a MathWorks Fellow. "Our Simscape language allows an integrated approach."

Tung added that designers could resolve most system interaction issues for complex components before hardware prototyping.

The development of mechatonics applications typically involves modeling and simulating components that have both mechanical and electrical components. Until now, separate software tools were required. The Simscape language is designed to help integrate the separate domains using a textual definition of their complex components. Once defined, a single icon can represent the component in the Matlab simulation environment.

Mathworks said the Simscape language is not a separate product, but will henceforth be a part of Matlab's existing Simscape simulation environment.