User`s manual

Using the MATLAB Engine
4-3
Using the MATLAB Engine
Some of the things you can do with the MATLAB engine are:
•Call a math routine, for example, to invert an array or to compute an FFT
from your own program. When employed in this manner, MATLAB is a
powerful and programmable mathematical subroutine library.
•Build an entire system for a specific task, for example, radar signature
analysis or gas chromatography, where the front end (GUI) is programmed
in C and the back end (analysis) is programmed in MATLAB, thereby
shortening development time.
The MATLAB engine operates by running in the background as a separate
process from your own program. This offers several advantages:
•On UNIX, the MATLAB engine can run on your machine, or on any other
UNIX machine on your network, including machines of a different
architecture. Thus you could implement a user interface on your workstation
and perform the computations on a faster machine located elsewhere on your
network. The description of the
engOpen function offers further information.
•Instead of requiring that all of MATLAB be linked to your program (a
substantial amount of code), only a small engine communication library is
needed.
The Engine Library
The engine library contains the following routines for controlling the MATLAB
computation engine. Their names all begin with the three-letter prefix
eng.
These tables list all the available engine functions and their purposes.
Table 4-1: C Engine Routines
Function Purpose
engOpen
Start up MATLAB engine
engClose
Shut down MATLAB engine
engGetArray
Get a MATLAB array from the MATLAB engine
engPutArray
Send a MATLAB array to the MATLAB engine