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Table of Contents > QUARC > Release Notes

QUARC 2019

These release notes describe the new features and changes introduced in QUARC 2019. They are divided into the sections enumerated below.

New Software Compatibility

QUARC 2019 has introduced compatibility with the following third-party software.

MATLAB R2019a

Compatibility with MATLAB, Simulink, and Simulink Coder R2019a has been added.

New Cards Supported

The full list of all the data acquisition cards supported by QUARC 2019 is given by the following link. QUARC 2019 may now also interface to the cards listed below.

Quanser QBot 2e

Added support for the Quanser QBot 2e card.

New Devices Supported

QUARC 2019 may now interface to the devices listed below.

Kinova 6-DOF JACO Gen2 Robot

The Kinova 6-DOF JACO Gen2 robot, as a Quanser-customized version, is now supported as an open-architecture robot. The Kinova 6-DOF MICO Read block reads the Kinova 6-DOF MICO joint angular positions, speeds, currents, torques and states. Conversely, the Kinova 6-DOF MICO Write block sends joint and finger position commands and PID controller gains to the Kinova 6-DOF JACO robot. The Kinova 6-DOF MICO Torque Reset block performs reset on the Kinova 6-DOF JACO robot torque sensors. It is especially useful when the Kinvoa 6-DOF JACO robot torque sensors have lost their calibration during transport.

The Kinova 6-DOF MICO blocks may be found under the QUARC Targets/Devices/Third-Party/Kinova/Robots/6-DOF MICO library.

New Demonstrations

The QUARC demonstrations added in QUARC 2019 are listed below.

Continuous-Time Demonstrations

QUARC Extended Kalman Filter Demo

The QUARC Extended Kalman Filter Demo shows how to use non-linear state-space models and the extended Kalman filter as a non-linear model-based filter. The Nonlinear State Space block is used to simulate a pendulum with damping that is released at a 90 degree angle from vertical. The pendulum model produces a damped oscillation as a result.

New Blocks

New blocks have been added to the QUARC Targets library in QUARC 2019. The new blocks are listed below.

Continuous Blocks

Extended Kalman Filter

The Extended Kalman Filter block is used to implement extended Kalman filters, which are non-linear filters for estimating the states of non-linear systems.

Jacobian

The Jacobian block is used to numerically calculate the Jacobian of a non-linear function, f(x,u), with respect to x.

Nonlinear State-Space

The Nonlinear State-Space block is used to implement nonlinear state-space systems.

Devices Blocks

Ranging Sensor

The Ranging Sensor block measures distance using a ranging sensor, such as a time-of-flight sensor or LIDAR.

Math Operations Blocks

Quaternion Product Jacobian

The Quaternion Product Jacobian block computes the Jacobian of the quaternion product with respect to q1 or q2.

Quaternion Rotate Jacobian

The Quaternion Rotate Jacobian block Computes the Jacobian of the quaternion rotation of q2 with respect to q1.

Signal Routing Blocks

Replace Elements

The Replace Elements block replaces elements of its first input signal with elements from its second input. The elements replaced can be changed dynamically.

Improved Features

Some of the features improved in QUARC 2019 are enumerated below. There are a great many miscellaneous improvements that have not been listed. Only some of the highlights are listed below.

Computation Time block

The Computation Time block now has the option of measuring CPU time instead of actual (wall clock) time. While CPU time may have lower resolution, it does not include the time spent blocking or being interrupted by higher priority processes or threads.

Time block

The Time block now has the option of measuring process or thread CPU time instead of actual (wall clock) time. While CPU time may have lower resolution, it does not include the time spent blocking or being interrupted by higher priority processes or threads.

Miscellaneous

The following shows the miscellaneous changes in QUARC 2019.

Version

Internal version number for QUARC 2019 is 2.8.

Beep block

The Beep block is now moved out of Beta and into the main QUARC library.

Host Beep block

The Host Beep block is now moved out of Beta and into the main QUARC library.

Duovero, Duovero 2016, Verdex become legacy targets

The QUARC Linux DuoVero Target, QUARC Linux DuoVero 2016 Target, and QUARC Linux Verdex Target targets are considered legacy due to support for the devices running on those targets are no longer available. In general, no new functionalities will be provided for these targets.

Deprecated Features

Deprecated

Some of the previous QUARC features have been deprecated in QUARC 2019, as mentioned below. Many of the deprecated features may continue to work, but are no longer supported and should be avoided.

MATLAB Versions No Longer Supported

MATLAB R2017a

MATLAB R2017a is no longer supported.

MATLAB R2017b

MATLAB R2017b is no longer supported.

Compilers No Longer Supported

Microsoft Visual Studio 2012

Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 is no longer supported.

Microsoft Windows SDK 7.1

Microsoft Windows SDK 7.1 is no longer supported.

Targets No Longer Supported

QUARC Linux Verdex Target

The QUARC Linux Verdex Target is no longer supported and now a legacy target.

QUARC Linux DuoVero Target

The QUARC Linux DuoVero Target is no longer supported and now a legacy target.

QUARC Linux DuoVero 2016 Target

The QUARC Linux DuoVero 2016 Target is no longer supported and now a legacy target.

Bug Fixes

Some of the bug fixes in QUARC 2019 are enumerated below. This list is not complete. Only some of the highlights are listed below.

Video Capture

Fix bug when using a static image as a value instead of a device for the video source.

 

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