Quarc Library Simulink Direct

One of the biggest challenges in hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing is debugging a system that is running faster than the human eye can track. Quarc solves this with advanced monitoring tools.

QUARC supports External Mode, which allows you to tune parameters (e.g., PID gains) and view scopes live while the model runs on a separate target computer. This is critical for hard real-time performance where the host OS may introduce jitter.

The QUARC library for Simulink is not just a collection of I/O blocks—it is a complete real-time ecosystem. By enabling engineers to stay within the familiar Simulink environment while interacting with physical hardware, QUARC reduces development time from days to minutes. Its robust handling of real-time synchronization, versatile hardware support, and deep integration with Quanser’s world-class plants make it the go-to choice for control system education and research.

Whether you are a professor designing an undergraduate mechatronics lab, a graduate student validating a nonlinear controller, or an industry professional prototyping a novel actuator, mastering the QUARC blockset will empower you to turn theoretical models into real-world results.

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The gap between simulation and reality is narrow, but QUARC provides the bridge. Happy real-time modeling.

Mark Thompson is a control systems engineer with over a decade of experience in real-time simulation and hardware-in-the-loop testing. This article was reviewed by Quanser Inc. for technical accuracy as of 2025.

QUARC is widely considered the "gold standard" for real-time control prototyping within the MATLAB/Simulink environment, particularly in academic and high-end research settings.

The general consensus from users and researchers is that it is a powerful, reliable tool that bridges the gap between theoretical modeling and physical hardware, though its high performance comes with specific hardware requirements and potential performance trade-offs in certain modes. Core Strengths quarc library simulink

Quanser Real-Time Control (Software) アルテックス | IPROS

Headline: Simulink + QUARC = Real-time control made simple ⚡

No more manual I/O coding. Just add QUARC blocks to your Simulink model and run directly on hardware.

✅ Real-time execution
✅ DAQ & actuator support
✅ One-click hardware-in-the-loop

Perfect for robotics, mechatronics, and control research.

Check it out 👉 [Insert link]

#Simulink #ControlSystems #RealTime #QUARC #Quanser

The QUARC Library for Simulink, developed by Quanser, is a comprehensive suite of real-time control software that bridges the gap between theoretical Simulink models and physical hardware implementation. It serves as a rapid control prototyping (RCP) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) environment, allowing users to generate real-time code directly from Simulink diagrams without writing a single line of manual code. Core Functionality and Architecture One of the biggest challenges in hardware-in-the-loop (HIL)

QUARC operates on a host-target relationship, where the user designs controllers in the Simulink Development Environment (SDE) on a host PC and deploys them to a local or remote real-time target.

Real-Time Code Generation: Converts graphical Simulink models into optimized C-code that runs deterministically on platforms like Windows and Linux.

External Mode Support: Enables online parameter tuning and real-time data monitoring directly within the Simulink interface while the model is executing on the target hardware.

Dynamic Reconfiguration: Allows users to replace a running model with a new one without interrupting the hardware's execution. Key Blocksets in the QUARC Library

The QUARC Targets Library expands standard Simulink capabilities with specialized blocks:

Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) API: Provides a unified interface to access data acquisition (DAQ) cards from Quanser, National Instruments, and other third-party manufacturers.

Stream API: A protocol-independent communication framework supporting TCP/IP, UDP, serial, shared memory, and SPI.

Multimedia and Vision: Specialized blocks for interfacing with FLIR and PGR cameras, performing image processing, and handling video compression. The gap between simulation and reality is narrow,

Advanced Robotics: Includes kinematic solvers and blocks for controlling specific robots like the Quanser QArm, Denso, and Kinova arms. Applications in Education and Research

QUARC is widely utilized across academic and industrial sectors due to its "academically appropriate abstraction," which allows students to focus on control theory rather than low-level coding.

Teaching Labs: Integrated into Quanser lab workstations to teach linear systems, rotary motion, and mechatronics.

Autonomous Systems: Powering research in multi-agent robotics using the QBot 2, QCars, and QDrones.

High-Performance Prototyping: Used in large-scale projects, such as the Challenging Environment Assessment Lab (CEAL), for complex motion platform control. Getting Started and Troubleshooting

To use the library, ensure that QUARC Real-Time Control software is installed after MATLAB. If blocks are missing with a quarc_library error, you can run quarc_setup in the MATLAB Command Window to refresh the paths. For existing models, use the Upgrade blocks utility under the QUARC menu to resolve broken links from older versions. Quanser Lab Workstation Support from Simulink - MathWorks

A powerful feature is the Duplicate/Alias system. When you need to access the same hardware channel in multiple places, QUARC allows you to create "Alias" blocks instead of duplicating heavy hardware drivers. This avoids double-initialization errors and keeps diagrams clean.

One of the critical distinctions between Simulink simulation and Quarc is how time is handled.