Automatic C to Simulink Model Converter (C2M) Tool

The automotive industry today follows Model Based Development (MBD) for developing modern automotive applications. This method involves creating models for a system under design and then using tools like MATLAB/Simulink to auto-generate code for target platforms. This method is popular since maintenance of MBD based applications is simple and less time consuming as compared to maintaining hand-written application code. Thus, MBD facilitates correct designs and easy maintenance of automotive applications. However, there are legacy automotive applications that are not developed using models. It is difficult to accommodate and test any changes in such application codes since it requires extensive testing. Additionally, for application code generated from models, many a times, code is changed during testing and these changes are not reflected in the model. Hence, there is a need to convert legacy automotive application codes to models. A novel Code to Model (C2M) tool is described in the paper that can automatically convert a given code to Simulink model. We also discuss the design and few implementation challenges of this tool. The C2M tool has been tested with an automotive powertrain code. It has resulted in near 100% productivity improvement with respect to the conversion process while adhering to the MathWorks Automotive Advisory Board (MAAB) guidelines and has 95% accurate conversion rate.