Use Symbolic Signal Dimensions
Symbolic dimensions in Simulink® represent signal dimensions in the model. Instead of using fixed numerical values for dimensions during model development, you use symbols. This enables you to experiment with different dimension sets without altering the model each time you make a change to signal dimensions. Wherever you need to specify a signal dimension, such as in blocks and data objects, you can use symbolic dimensions instead of numerical values. For more information on signal dimensions, see Signal Dimensions.
Symbolic dimensions are useful in scenarios where the number of data streams can vary
depending on the type of system. For example, in a Simulink model for a tire-pressure monitoring system that monitors tire pressure data
from multiple tires, the number of tires can vary depending on the type of the vehicle (such
as cars, trucks, and motorcycles). By using a symbolic dimensionnumTires to
represent the number of tires, you can design a model that adapts to different numbers of
tires without altering the model structure.
Note
Symbolic signal dimensions differ from variable-size signals. While symbolic signal dimensions allow you to switch dimensions without altering the model structure, variable-size signals allow signals to change size dynamically during the simulation. For more information, see Variable-Size Signal Basics.
When you generate code using Embedded Coder®, the symbols are incorporated in the generated code. The generated code includes symbolic dimensions in preprocessor conditionals, making the code adaptable to different dimensions without needing to regenerate the code. For more information, see Implement Symbolic Dimensions for Array Sizes in Generated Code (Embedded Coder).
The symbolic dimension specification feature is on by default. To disable this feature, clear Allow symbolic dimension specification parameter in the Configuration Parameters dialog box.
