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Table of Contents > QUARC > Release Notes

QUARC 2021 SP1

These release notes describe the new features and changes introduced in QUARC 2021 SP1. They are divided into the sections enumerated below.

New Software Compatibility

QUARC 2021 SP1 has introduced compatibility with the following third-party software.

MATLAB R2021b

Compatibility with MATLAB, Simulink, and Simulink Coder R2021b has been added.

New Targets

QUARC 2021 SP1 now supports the following new targets.

Raspberry Pi 4 Target

The QUARC Raspberry Pi 4 Target supports one of the newest Quanser embedded Linux targets. Refer to QUARC Linux Raspberry Pi 4 Target for details.

New Devices Supported

QUARC 2021 SP1 may now interface to the devices listed below.

KUKA KR C4 Robot Controller

Support for the KUKA KR C4 robot controller (coupled with any compatible KUKA 6-DOF robot) has been added to the KUKA RSI block. In addition, support for Fast mode RSI, i.e., with the 4 ms update period, was also added to the KUKA RSI block.

New Demonstrations

The examples added in QUARC 2021 SP1 are listed below.

MATLAB HIL Examples

hil_speed_control_example

The hil_speed_control_example illustrates the use of the HIL API for MATLAB to perform proportional-integral (PI) speed control of a QUBE-Servo 2-USB experiment.

New Blocks

New blocks have been added to the QUARC Targets library in QUARC 2021 SP1. The new blocks are listed below.

Advanced Blocks

Atomic Transition

The Atomic Transition block performs a rate transition between arbitrary rates that guarantees data integrity.

New Functions

New MATLAB functions have been added to the QUARC MATLAB functions in QUARC 2021 SP1. The new functions are listed below.

quanser.hardware functions

quanser.hardware.task.set_buffer_overflow_mode

The new quanser.hardware.task.set_buffer_overflow_mode method for quanser.hardware.task class sets the buffer overflow mode for a task.

Improved Features

Some of the features improved in QUARC 2021 SP1 are enumerated below. There are a great many miscellaneous improvements that have not been listed. Only some of the highlights are listed below.

qc_build_script command

The qc_build_script command has been enhanced to support scalar and vector input arguments to the script. These arguments may then be passed on the command-line to the qc_run_script command.

Demultiplexer block

The Demultiplexer block has been enhanced to support either holding the values of unselected outputs or resetting them to zero or the value of an input port.

HIL functions/blocks

All HIL functions/blocks will now check for NaN being written to the DAQ and will return an error if it is encountered.

LCD Display block

The LCD Display block has been enhanced to support displaying image for graphical LCD displays. It also supports "dark mode" i.e., use white text on black background for displays that support it.

Model Argument block

The Model Argument block now allows the default value for the argument to be specified.

Miscellaneous

The following shows the miscellaneous changes in QUARC 2021 SP1.

Auto FTDI driver updates

Auto FTDI driver updates via the Microsoft Windows Update will no longer affect the Q2-USB and Q8-USB performance.

Bug Fixes

Some of the bug fixes in QUARC 2021 SP1 are enumerated below. This list is not complete. Only some of the highlights are listed below.

HIL Proxy Server

Attempting to use the digital output watchdog expiration states caused the HIL Proxy Server to drop the connection. This issue has been resolved.

Linux-based toolchains

Fixed the issue where C++ shared library linker options were not set properly.

PGR Grab Image block

The PGR Grab Image block had a bug in its mask causing an error when switching video modes. This issue has been resolved.

Replace Elements block

The Replace Elements block was missing its MEX function. This unfortunate omission has now been fixed.

Audio Play block

The Audio Play block had a bug where code generation might have failed. This issue has been fixed.

D415 depth image

Fixed a bug where the depth image for D415 on QBot 2e was not displaying properly.

Force Torque Sensor block

Fixed a bug where the Force Torque Sensor block might have crashed MATLAB.

Video3D Simulation block

Fixed a bug where the Video3D Simulation might have crashed MATLAB.

FTDI-based devices HIL drivers [U1]

Fixed a bug where models using FTDI-based devices (e.g. Hexapod2-USB, Q2-USB, Q8-USB, QUBE-SERVO-USB) cannot start on Windows targets.

 

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