in control, why is a simulink solution better than analytic?

what are the advantages of simulink for control purposes over a handwritten anayltic solution ?

Answer 1

[Birdman]

Actually, there is not much difference of Simulink solution and analytic solution mathematically. At the end, they do the same for us but the main difference is that Simulink provides many types of control tools for several purposes in a compact form, where you do not need to worry about the written code. For instance, you can configure many type of Solver options depending on its Type and Solver. You can also force the solver to take maximum and minimum step sizes with provided tolerances very easily. You can change this settings quickly and test your control algorithm in a faster way but analytic solutions require more knowledge and attention for these purposes. Furthermore, Simulink has several toolboxes for control processes. Basically, it will take some time to implement a basic PID controller if you write a code of it since there are several details need to be taken care of(If you generate code from a simple control process, you will see the basic structures written for them). Also, control loops includes so many feedbacks and it is really easy to implement it on Simulink by connecting one signal to other. Analytically, these requires much more attention and it is really open for mistakes. Much more difference can be mentioned, but I believe you will understand my point.

Answer 2

[Fangjun Jiang]

If you can draw a handwritten solution, you are smart. But other people may not be able to understand it.

Many times, I can't draw a handwritten solution so I use Simulink to solve it and people think I am smart.