{"id":62,"date":"2009-08-11T15:46:43","date_gmt":"2009-08-11T15:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/seth\/2009\/08\/11\/how-many-blocks-are-in-that-model\/"},"modified":"2009-08-11T15:48:45","modified_gmt":"2009-08-11T15:48:45","slug":"how-many-blocks-are-in-that-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/2009\/08\/11\/how-many-blocks-are-in-that-model\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many Blocks are in that Model?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My colleague Sam and I wanted to find an example model with\r\nabout 10,000 blocks.\u00a0 I suggested the HL-20 model from the Aerospace Blockset, asbhl20.mdl<\/span>.\u00a0\r\nSam decided to measure the total number of blocks by running sldiagnostics<\/a><\/span>:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n>> [t,s] = sldiagnostics(<\/span>'asbhl20'<\/span>,<\/span>'CountBlocks'<\/span>);<\/span>
\r\n\r\ns(1)<\/span>
\r\n\r\nans = <\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 isMask: 0<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 type: <\/span>'asbhl20 Total\r\nblocks'<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 count: 5700<\/span><\/code>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sam quickly sent me a message saying that the HL-20 model only\r\nhad 5700 blocks.\u00a0 What gives?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What is SLDIAGNOSTICS?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

First, let us discuss a little history of sldiagnostics<\/span>.\u00a0\r\nOver the years, Simulink developers have worked with many customers to learn\r\nabout their modeling styles and assist in debugging problems.\u00a0 Unfortunately some\r\ncustomers are unable to share their models because they might contain\r\nproprietary information.\u00a0 The solution these developers created were a series\r\nof scripts that would quickly gather information about a model without any model\r\nalgorithm information. These collected scripts then became the sldiagnostics<\/span>\r\nfunction.\u00a0 Because the output of these scripts was generally devoid of any\r\nproprietary data, even customers who could not share their models were able to provide\r\nthe diagnostic information instead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Most of the checks done by sldiagnostics<\/span> help you gather an\r\nunderstanding of the model as a whole.\u00a0 This is a great help in learning about\r\nmodels rather than having to browse through every system one-by-one.\u00a0 <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

CountBlocks<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The diagnostic information Sam gathered was the output of\r\nCountBlocks.\u00a0 Here is a part of the text report for the HL-20 model.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFinished counting blocks in 'asbhl20'.<\/span>
\r\n\r\nFound 5700 blocks.<\/span>
\r\n\r\n <\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0asbhl20 Total blocks :\u00a0 5700<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Abs :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 16<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ActionPort :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 11<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Assertion :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bias :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0BusCreator :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 46<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0BusSelector :\u00a0\u00a0 126<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<snip><\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Inport :\u00a0 1175<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0InportShadow :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 49<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Integrator :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 43<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Interpolation_n-D :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Logic :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lookup :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lookup_n-D :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Math :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 59<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Memory :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Merge :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0MinMax :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 4<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ModelReference\r\n:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 9<\/span><\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0MultiPortSwitch :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mux :\u00a0\u00a0 141<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Outport :\u00a0\u00a0 669<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<snip><\/span><\/code>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

HL-20 Includes Model Reference<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The HL-20 model includes 9 ModelReference blocks.\u00a0 (I introduced\r\nsome of the basics of model\r\nreference a previous post<\/a>.)\u00a0 You can see the hierarchy of the model in the\r\nDependency Viewer instance view.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"The<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When I think about a model, I imagine the net collected functionality\r\nrepresented by it.\u00a0 I think the number of blocks used to create that model is a\r\nsimple measure for how much functionality\/algorithm there is.\u00a0 Model reference\r\nblocks contain the functionality of the entire model that they reference,\r\nhowever, sldiagnostics<\/span>\r\ncounts ever Model Reference block as only one block.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The measure I am really looking for is the subsystem\r\nequivalent implementation of all the blocks in the model.\u00a0 To get this for the\r\nHL-20 model, you actually need to count the blocks inside each model referenced\r\nand multiply by the number of instances.\u00a0 I wrote a MATLAB function to do this:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nfunction<\/span> totalBlocks =\r\nmdlrefCountBlocks(mdl)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n% mdlrefCountBlocks Count the\r\nsubsystem equivalent number of blocks <\/span>
\r\n\r\n% in a model reference hierarchy.<\/span>
\r\n\r\n <\/span>
\r\n\r\n% Copyright 2009 The MathWorks,\r\nInc<\/span>
\r\n\r\n <\/span>
\r\n\r\n%% Open the model<\/span>
\r\n\r\nopen_system(mdl)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n\r\n%% Get instance information<\/span>
\r\n\r\n[mDep,mInst] = find_mdlrefs(mdl);<\/span>
\r\n\r\n% Open dependent models<\/span>
\r\n\r\nfor<\/span> i = 1:length(mDep)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 load_system(mDep{i})<\/span>
\r\n\r\nend<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n\r\n%% Count the number of instances\r\nof each dependency<\/span>
\r\n\r\nmCount = zeros(size(mDep));<\/span>
\r\n\r\nmCount(end) = 1; <\/span>% Last\r\nelement is the top model, only one instance<\/span>
\r\n\r\nfor<\/span> i = 1:length(mInst)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mod = get_param(mInst{i},<\/span>'ModelName'<\/span>);<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mCount = mCount + strcmp(mod,mDep);<\/span>
\r\n\r\nend<\/span>
\r\n\r\n%%<\/span>
\r\n\r\nfor<\/span> i = 1:length(mDep)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 disp([num2str(mCount(i)) <\/span>' instances of\r\n'<\/span>\r\nmDep{i}])<\/span>
\r\n\r\nend<\/span>
\r\n\r\ndisp(<\/span>' '<\/span>)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n\r\n%% Loop over dependencies, get\r\nnumber of blocks<\/span>
\r\n\r\ns = cell(size(mDep));<\/span>
\r\n\r\nfor<\/span> i = 1:length(mDep)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [t,s{i}] = sldiagnostics(mDep{i},<\/span>'CountBlocks'<\/span>);<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 disp([mDep{i} <\/span>' has '<\/span> num2str(s{i}(1).count)\r\n<\/span>'\r\nblocks'<\/span>])<\/span>
\r\n\r\nend<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n\r\n%% Multiply number of blocks,\r\ntimes model count, add to total<\/span>
\r\n\r\ntotalBlocks = 0;<\/span>
\r\n\r\nfor<\/span> i = 1:length(mDep)<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 totalBlocks = totalBlocks +\r\ns{i}(1).count * mCount(i);<\/span>
\r\n\r\nend<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n\r\ndisp(<\/span>' '<\/span>)<\/span>
\r\n\r\ndisp([<\/span>'Total blocks: '<\/span>\r\nnum2str(totalBlocks)])<\/span><\/code>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Total Blocks<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here are the results of running this function:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n>> total = mdlrefCountBlocks(<\/span>'asbhl20'<\/span>);<\/span>
\r\n\r\n3 instances of asbhl20_FCSApp<\/span>
\r\n\r\n3 instances of asbhl20_FDIRApp<\/span>
\r\n\r\n3 instances of asbhl20_GuidanceApp<\/span>
\r\n\r\n1 instances of asbhl20<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n\r\nasbhl20_FCSApp has 115 blocks<\/span>
\r\n\r\nasbhl20_FDIRApp has 1248 blocks<\/span>
\r\n\r\nasbhl20_GuidanceApp has 388 blocks<\/span>
\r\n\r\nasbhl20 has 5700 blocks<\/span>
\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>
\r\n\r\nTotal blocks: 10953<\/span><\/code>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Now it\u2019s your turn<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the end, we can see the HL-20 model has almost 11K\r\nblocks.\u00a0 Do you use model reference? How many total blocks are in the hierarchy\r\nof your largest model?\u00a0 Use the script above to gather this data and post it in\r\nthe comments here<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My colleague Sam and I wanted to find an example model with\r\nabout 10,000 blocks.\u00a0 I suggested the HL-20 model from the Aerospace Blockset, asbhl20.mdl.\u00a0\r\nSam decided to measure the total number of... read more >><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,43,7,66],"tags":[456,441,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mathworks.com\/simulink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}