How to protect intellectual property (IP) with an FMU exported from Simulink in R2020b?

There are two different kinds of functional mockup unit (FMU) which can be exported from Simulink:

1. Standalone FMU
2. Tool-Coupling FMU

Which kind of FMU should I choose if my goal is IP protection?

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

The FMI standard does not specify anything related to IP protection, however "Standalone" FMU exports get some degree of IP protection.

Standalone FMU:

Since Simulink Compiler uses the Simulink Coder infrastructure, FMU Export gets some level of IP protection:

• Compiled binaries: the original Simulink model/source code are compiled into binary form (user cannot recover original Simulink model)
• Obfuscated symbols: C function and global variable names are obfuscated after code generation (user cannot recover meaningful source code function/symbol names)

What FMU export does not have:

• Obfuscated constants (user cannot recover meaningful string literals and numerical constants)
• Additional encryption of dynamic library file (user cannot recover original memory layout)
• Password protection for FMU zip package (user cannot decrypt FMU without password)

Tool-Coupling FMU:

There is no level of IP protection.

Other approaches to protect IP of your Simulink model that do not involve FMUs are mentioned in the following MATLAB Answers post:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/414694-how-can-i-protect-the-intellectual-property-of-my-simulink-model