Simulation Tool for Networked Control Systems (NCS)

TrueTime is a MATLAB/Simulink-based toolbox specifically designed for simulating and researching Networked Control Systems (NCS). It enables developers to model real-world network effects—such as communication delays, packet losses, and scheduling mechanisms—on control system performance. The toolbox integrates seamlessly with Simulink, allowing users to define network nodes, tasks, and controllers using block-based graphical interfaces without requiring low-level programming.

TrueTime 1.5, the most stable version of the toolbox, includes the following key features: - **Network Modeling**: Simulates various network types (e.g., Ethernet, Wireless LAN) and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, CAN) with configurable parameters for bandwidth, latency, and packet loss rates. - **Task Scheduling Simulation**: Supports custom real-time scheduling policies (e.g., Rate-Monotonic, Earliest-Deadline-First) through MATLAB script-based task definitions, enabling performance evaluation under dynamic workloads. - **Simulink Integration**: Users can drag-and-drop TrueTime blocks (e.g., Network, Kernel) into Simulink models and link them to control components, automating code generation for simulation scenarios. - **Multi-Domain Applicability**: Widely used in robotics, industrial automation, and cyber-physical systems to analyze control loop stability, optimize sampling rates, and validate time-sensitive protocols.

TrueTime 1.5 provides researchers and engineers with an intuitive platform to quantify how network-induced delays impact control performance (e.g., phase margin degradation, overshoot) and refine system designs for improved robustness and response times.