Empowering Engineering Training: A Portable PyQT5-Based GUI for System Validation with Simulink DLLs

Modelling and simulation is an integral part of Systems Engineering. Models represent the key characteristics or behaviour/functions of the selected physical or abstract systems. Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world system. MATLAB/Simulink is often used for this purpose. Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) are created to understand the functionality of developed models using MATLAB's App Designer application. Though these are robust, they pose several problems, particularly for large models, such as the requirement of an expensive MATLAB license by the end-user for running the application, reduction in execution speed, and usage of large amounts of device storage space. In this paper, a solution to this issue is proposed. A stand-alone GUI application can be developed using Python's PyQT5- a framework for developing GUIs. The usage of a foreign function library in Python called ‘ctypes', to call the functions of the DLL into the developed Python-based GUI, is also realized in this paper. The GUI can run on a computer without MATLAB software installed. The results of the GUI agree with that of the Simulink model. Consequently, this standalone GUI application holds promise for streamlining the verification and validation processes of complex models, offering a cost-effective, efficient, and easily accessible alternative that empowers engineering training initiatives.