Is it possible to use a Raspberry Pi cluster to run the MATLAB web app server?

I need a way to test a web app I am looking to develop which would show a real-time spectrum display of the signal being received by a SDR. I am thinking of connecting the SDR (uses a Zynq Zedboard) to a LAN switch. The Raspberry Pi cluster would also connect to the switch and run the development version of the MATLAB web app server and host the web app I create. The SDR would send the sampled data to the web app which would then perform the continguous FFTs needed for the real-time display. Is this setup possible? Would Raspbian work as the OS, or would I need a different variant of Linux? Any information or guidance would help.

Answer 1

[Vinayak]

Hi Augustus,

I understand you wish to host a MATLAB Web App Server on a Raspberry Pi cluster. Hosting a MATLAB Web App Server directly on a Raspberry Pi comes with certain limitations. It does not support a few functions and file operations are quite constrained. Depending on what your project requires, these limitations may or may not be significant. However, if the limitations are significant, there are alternatives to integrate MATLAB with Raspberry Pi.

One option is to use MATLAB Online or a desktop version of MATLAB for interactive communication with your Raspberry Pi. This setup would allow you to collect data from your SDR and then analyse and process it within MATLAB's environment.

Alternatively, you might consider using MATLAB Coder to convert your MATLAB code into standalone executables or libraries that can be executed on the Raspberry Pi's ARM architecture. This approach allows you to run your MATLAB algorithms directly on the Raspberry Pi hardware.

To understand more about using Raspberry Pi with MATLAB you may review the following documentations:

• Hardware Support Package: https://www.mathworks.com/hardware-support/raspberry-pi-matlab.html
• Raspberry Pi Limitations: https://www.mathworks.com/help/supportpkg/raspberrypiio/ug/create-and-deploy-web-apps.html

Hope this helps!