QUARC 2023
These release notes describe the new features and changes introduced in QUARC 2023. They are divided into the sections enumerated below.
New Software Compatibility
QUARC 2023 has introduced compatibility with the following third-party software.
Compatibility with MATLAB, Simulink, and Simulink Coder R2023a has been added.
New Targets
QUARC 2023 now supports the following new targets.
The QUARC Linux QDrone 2 Target supports one of the newest Quanser embedded Linux targets. Refer to QUARC Linux QDrone 2 Target for details.
New Features
The new features introduced in QUARC 2023 are mentioned below.
The LCD Display now supports rotation of graphical LCD displays.
New Cards Supported
The full list of all the data acquisition cards supported by QUARC 2023 is given by the following link. QUARC 2023 may now also interface to the cards listed below.
Added support for the Quanser QDrone 2 device.
Added support for the Quanser Qube-Servo 3 device.
New Blocks
New blocks have been added to the QUARC Targets library in QUARC 2023. The new blocks are listed below.
Multimedia Blocks
The GenICam Capture block captures video images from a GenICam compatible camera.
Signal Routing Blocks
The Select by Mask block allows elements of the first input to be extracted to form the output based on a mask.
New Functions
New MATLAB functions have been added to the QUARC MATLAB functions in QUARC 2023. The new functions are listed below.
quanser.hardware functions
The new quanser.hardware.hil.esc_output method for quanser.hardware.hil class generates a PWM output value suitable for an ESC command. It is the MATLAB equivalent of the ESC Output block.
This function is also available as the command. It is useful for assigning final outputs for PWM channels or in MATLAB scripts that access hardware. There are also new t_esc_protocol and t_dshot_command enumerations to support this function.
Improved Features
Some of the features improved in QUARC 2023 are enumerated below. There are a great many miscellaneous improvements that have not been listed. Only some of the highlights are listed below.
Support for RPLIDAR devices with the Ranging Sensor block has been improved to provide much more consistent scans in terms of the number of samples per scan and the consistency between short, medium and long ranges.
The HIL Simulation blocks has been enhanced to support integer, double and string properties.
The Ranging Sensor Simulation now simulates the RPLIDAR correctly, although the input needs to be consistent with the ranging mode selected by the client Ranging Sensor block.
The Stream Client, Stream Server, Stream Call, Stream Answer, Stream Connect, and Stream Listen blocks now support variable-size signals for their external URI inputs, enabling more flexible string handling. Also added overflow checks to detect when URIs are not null-terminated.
The Video Compressed Display block now shows the RGB and HSV values of the pixel currently at the mouse cursor, just like the Video Display block.
The QUARC Target dialog has been enhanced to scan a broader range of IP addresses when scanning for QUARC targets.
Furthermore, QUARC Target dialog can be brought up via the QUARC Monitor's context menu.
Some image processing algorithms have been further optimized, particularly for the uint16 and single data types on ARM32 and ARM64 targets. For the uint16 data type the Gaussian, Linear and Median filters have all been further optimized, while for the single data type, the Median filter has been further optimized. The Maximum filter has also been further optimized for the ARM32 target.
The Date/Time block has been enhanced to output nanoseconds. The block also supports outputting UTC, local, and Unix epoch time now.
The HIL Simulation, Host Initialize, Mavlink Initialize, Multiwii Connect, Ranging Sensor Simulation, Video Simulation and Video3D Simulation blocks now support specifying URI via an input port.
The Print block now supports VT100 escape sequences to set the colour and other special cursor operations in the QUARC Console.
The File Read block can now be configured to read the input file multiple times (or indefinitely).
The String blocks can now handle UTF-8 strings, thus can be used to handle all character sets. Furthermore, the String Display, String Accumulate, String Concatenate, blocks can now handle the Simulink "string" data type.
Miscellaneous
The following shows the miscellaneous changes in QUARC 2023.
Deprecated Features
| Some of the previous QUARC features have been deprecated in QUARC 2023, 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 R2021a is no longer supported.
MATLAB R2021b is no longer supported.
Compilers No Longer Supported
Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 is no longer supported.
Development Host
The Windows 7 SP1 host is no longer supported since MATLAB R2022a (the minimum MATLAB version that QUARC 2023 supports) and beyond do not support this OS.
Bug Fixes
Some of the bug fixes in QUARC 2023 are enumerated below. This list is not complete. Only some of the highlights are listed below.
Fixed a bug in the Date/Time block where the month would now output 1 to 12, instead of 0 to 11.
Fixed a bug in the TCP/IP protocol in which multiple processes could bind to the same socket, resulting in unexpected behaviour.
Fixed random errors that would sometimes occur in Simulation blocks.
Fixed bugs in HIL proxy handling string properties. The proxy is used when accessing remote hardware or simulated hardware via the Quanser HIL API.
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