The document discusses a Scilab challenge project hosted by NTU that aims to promote the use of Scilab in academic institutions. Students are tasked with developing a radar design toolbox for Scilab and XCos to simulate radar systems. Top projects will receive prizes and an opportunity to present at an international conference. The TBSS-Scilab partnership manages Scilab activities and user groups in Singapore and Vietnam.

1. SCILAB CHALLENGE@NTU
Project Briefing
LEE Kar Heng, Ph.D
Chief, TBSS Group

2. 2
THE TBSS-SCILAB PARTNERSHIP
• Singapore (TBSS-Scilab Singapore Center)
• Vietnam (TBSS Khai Kinh Co. Ltd.)
• Oversees and Manages Scilab activities in
– Training and Education
– Project and Consultancy
– Migration and Deployment
– Specialized Developments
– Scilab User Group Management, Operations and Support
• Manages, administers and funds the Singapore and
Vietnam Scilab User Groups
• Manages Scilab projects in Singapore and Vietnam

3. 3
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
• To promote use of Scilab in academic
institutions, currently NTU and TP
• To facilitate the use of Scilab to solve a specific
problem
• To enable the students appreciate Scilab
• To provide a channel for students to present
findings in the ScilabTec2015 conference, Paris
• To reward capable students accordingly

4. 4
THE SCILAB CHALLENGE PROJECT
• Scilab Challenge 2014/2015 requires students to work
on a project that uses Scilab as the main scientific tool
in the simulation and computation of the solution to
the problem they are investigating
• Top 5 projects will be presented with cash prize of
SGD300.00, certificate and medal
• All participants will be presented certificate and medal
• Identified projects will be required to submit a
technical paper to the ScilabTEC2015 Committee
• The selected project team will be sponsored to present
the findings at the ScilabTEC2015 Conference in Paris

5. BENEFITS
• Gain skillset in use of Scilab
• Participation in project gives advantage in
seeking employment
• Participation in international conference is
widely accepted as a professional recognition
• Possibility to work for Scilab Enterprise, TBSS-Scilab
or other Scilab partners
5

6. 6
SCILAB CHALLENGE@NTU
• The problem is “A Radar Design Toolbox for
Scilab and XCos”
• Important dates:
15/10/14 – registration closed
15/12/14 – submit a one-page report
22/12/14 – announce selected projects
30/04/15 – submit a 6-page final report
11/05/15 – prize presentation
21/05/15 – ScilabTEC2015

7. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
• The problem is “A Radar Design Toolbox for Scilab and XCos”
• The objectives of this project include investigations, design,
simulation and development of a set of development tools
using Scilab and XCos
• The development tool shall allow users to configure a radar
system with different antennas, transmitter, receiver, and
other subsystems
• The project also aims to simulate a typical entire radar system
into model through the use of the developed tool and predict
the behavior of system’s output
• A series of plots shall be presented for user to analyze the
performance of the system design

8. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
• To achieve this main objective, it is necessary to analyse, and
research and carry out simulations of radar equations,
algorithm related on to the radar
• Conduct a detailed survey study of radar signal processing
• Develop the XCos models and write Scilab programs for
various radar system components.
• These components can be connected to give a complete radar
system.
• The development tool will then simulate the entire radar
system and present plots for users to performance analyse
and evaluation

9. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
• An illustration:

10. PROJECT SUPPORT
• Community support
– TBSS-Scilab User Group at Facebook (General enquiries on Scilab)
– Scilab Challenge@NTU 2014/2015 (Project related matters,
announcement, …)
• Contact
– Lee Kar Heng (karheng@tbssc3e.com) (project matters)
– Tan Thiam Huat (tanthiamhuat@e.ntu.edu.sg) (Scilab matters)

11. HISTORY
1980: first MATLAB
1980 – 1990: BASILE software at Inria / Simulog
1 - Scilab made by Inria
1990 – 2003: Open Source Scilab (Research)
Scilab freely distributed on the Net in 1994
2 - Scilab industrialization
2003 – 2007: Scilab Consortium phase 1 (Inria)
2008 – 2012: Scilab Consortium phase 2 (DIGITEO Foundation)
2008: Free Scilab (GPL compatible)
2009: Xcos industrialization
3 – Scilab Enterprises
2010: Transfer to Scilab Enterprises Company
2012: Exclusivity of trademark, development and publishing of Scilab

12. • Scilab
SCILAB DISTRIBUTION
Powerful Computation Engine
• Xcos
Dynamic Systems Modeling and
Simulation
• ATOMS (AuTomatic mOdules
Management for Scilab)
Module Management

13. SCILAB: FREE AND OPEN SOURCE
• High level
programming language
• Hundreds of
mathematical functions
• Advanced data
structures & user-defined
data types
• Computation engine
easy to embed into
applications
• Open System:
extended capabilities
with professional &
specialized modules

14. KEY SCIENTIFIC FEATURES
More than 2,000 functions:
• Mathematical functions
• Matrix computation, sparse
matrices
• Polynomials and rational
functions
• Simulation: ODE and DAE
• Classic and robust control, LMI
optimization
• Differentiable and non
differentiable optimization
• Interpolation, approximation
• Signal processing
• Statistics
• Xcos: hybrid dynamical systems
modeler and simulator

15. • Dynamic System Modeling and
Simulation
• A user-friendly GUI-based editor
for modeling and simulating hybrid
dynamical systems as block
diagrams: model construction,
edition and customization
• Integrated Modelica Compiler
• Freely Available and distributed
with Scilab
XCOS

16. XCOS MAIN FEATURES
• Graphically model, compile, and simulate dynamical
systems
• Combine continuous and discrete-time behaviors in the
same model
• Select model elements from Palettes of standard blocks
• Program new blocks in C, Fortran, or Scilab language
• HDF5 standard which has been chosen to guarantee data
exchanges between Scilab and Xcos Editor
• Free Modelica compiler which enables the simulation of
implicit diagrams
• Graphical user interface based on JGraphX

17. PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT
Variable
Browser
File Browser
Command
History
Console

18. PROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT
Editor 2-D/3-D Visualization
Embedded Help
External Modules
Manager
Variable Editor

19. GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES
• Great number of
functionalities to create
Graphical User Interfaces
• Accessible from Scilab
• Interaction between GUI and
plots
• Fully integrated in OS
environment

20. LATEST RELEASE SCILAB 5.5.0
What’s new?
• Graphics: speed (Matplot), datatips,
interactions, 3-D lightning
• Graphical User Interface: new UI
Controls
• Remote file Access (sciCurl)
• Scilab/MPI (Message Passing
Interface)
• Java Integration (JIMS)
• HDF5 management
• Localization of external modules
Works under Windows XP/Vista/7/8,
GNU/Linux and Mac OS X, 32 bits and
64 bits

21. LINKS WITH OTHER LANGUAGES
• Management of C, C++, Fortran, Java,
Python, .net... from Scilab: JIMS module for
Java
• Available as a computing engine with C,
C++, Java, Python, .net API...
• Links with:
– Excel®, COM/DCOM® (Microsoft),
– Labview® (National Instruments),
– Isight® (Dassault Systèmes),
– Alternova® (Eurodecision),
– modeFRONTIER® (ESTECO),
– etc.

22. LINKS WITH OTHER LANGUAGES
About 100,000 monthly downloads from 150
countries on www.scilab.org

23. USERS
Main industrial sectors
• Aerospace: Airbus Group, CNES,
Safran, Dassault Aviation
• Transportation: Renault, LEONI,
Siemens, Alstom, Faurecia
• Mechanical: ArcelorMittal, Aperam
• Energy: EDF, RTE, CEA, Total, IFP
• Defence: DGA, THALES
• Health: SANOFI
• Telecom: Orange
• Earth Science: BRGM, Eramet
Academics, education
 High schools (French high
schools)
 Engineering schools (TP, …)
 Universities (HCMUT, NUT,
SUTD, …)
In red: Scilab Enterprises customers

24. CHANGING TO SCILAB
Scilab is free software
– Easy to install everywhere
– Large community of users
But freedom is not enough
A friendly software with a lot of functionalities
– Included toolboxes for most of applied mathematics
– Own dedicated OpenGL graphics
– Xcos comparable to Simulink
– Easy to add interactively external module
A comprehensive organization takes care of Scilab
– Scilab developed professionally by Scilab Enterprises
– Supports and services
– IPC Scilab Users Group with important Companies

25. SCILAB … MATLAB
Scilab is not a clone of Matlab
• Very similar languages
• Same simple graphics functions: plot, bar, mesh, pie, surf
• But different syntax and semantics for many functions:
- Syntax example: “eigen” vs. “spec”
- Semantics example: “max” function
- Different management of source files
Matlab / Scilab dictionary available in the Scilab help

26. SCILAB AS A CALCULATOR
• Matrix computations:
A=rand(1000,1000); b=rand(1000,1);
x=Ab; norm(A*x-b)
vp=spec(A);
• 2D plots:
plot(real(vp),imag(vp),"*r");
x=linspace(-%pi,%pi,1000);
clf; plot(x,sin(x),"r",x,cos(x),"g");
 3D curve:
k=tan(%pi/27);t=linspace(-40,40,1000);
x=cos(t)./cosh(k*t); y=sin(t)./cosh(k*t); z=tanh(k*t);
clf; param3d(x,y,z);

27. SCILAB AS A CALCULATOR
 3D beautiful surface: 90,000 points
function z=f(x,y) // function defining the surface
z=exp(exp(-x^2-y^2)*(exp(cos(x^2+y^2)^20)+..
8*sin(x^2+y^2)^20+2*sin(2*(x^2+y^2))^8));
endfunction
x=linspace(-1.5,1.5,300); y=linspace(-1.5,1.5,300); z=feval(x,y,f);
f=scf(0); f.color_map=rainbowcolormap(32);
surf(x,y,z); // plot the surface
e=gce(); e.color_mode=-1;
a=gca(); a.box="off";
a.axes_visible=["off","off","off"];
a.x_label.visible="off";
a.y_label.visible="off";
a.z_label.visible="off";

28. SCILAB AS A PLOTTING TOOL
To plot data in 2D with color according to the value of the points, modify
data and then plot again
Data are given in text file mandel.txt (2 million points, 19 Mb).
1. Put data into Scilab matrix M:
M=fscanfMat("mandel.txt");
2. Open graphics window, choose beautiful colormap and plot
points according to its value:
f=scf(1); f.color_map = rainbowcolormap(256);
Matplot(M);
3. Discard points with value between 50 and 210 and plot in another
window:
M(find(50<M & M<210))=1;
f=scf(2); f.color_map = rainbowcolormap(256);
Matplot(M);

29. SCILAB AS A PLOTTING TOOL
Plotting is instantaneous:
First plot Second plot

30. SCILAB FILE HANDLING
To read text file takes time:
M=fscanfMat("mandel.txt"); // 5 seconds
1. Save matrix into binary SOD (Scilab Open Data) based on HDF5
standard:
save("mandel.sod","M"); // 0.04 second
2. Loading into Scilab is now very fast:
load("mandel.sod"); // 0.1 second

31. SCILAB PROGRAMMING
• Friendly editor, powerful mathematical language close
to natural language:
function u=Newton(f,fprim,u0,eps)
u=u0;
while abs(f(u))>eps then
fp=fprim(u);
if abs(fp)<=%eps then
error("singularity")
end
u=u-f(u)/fp
end
endfunction
 About 1,300 Scilab functions are written in Scilab

32. SCILAB PROGRAMMING
Gaussian elimination with partial pivoting:
function x=Gauss(A,b,eps)
n=size(b,"*"); x=b;
for k=1:n-1
Scilab vectorized syntax
// when the diagonal term is close to 0
// searching for a non zero element in the column
if abs(A(k,k))<eps then
kk=find(abs(A(k:n,k))>eps);
if kk==[] then
disp(“Non invertible Matrix");
return;
end
// exchanging lines k and kk in A and in b
kk=kk(1);
lignek=A(k,:); A(k,:)=A(kk,:); A(kk,:)=lignek;
lignek=b(k); b(k)=b(kk); b(kk)=lignek;
end
// Gauss algorithm
for l=k+1:n
p=A(l,k)/A(k,k);
for m=k:n
A(l,m)=A(l,m)-A(k,m)*p;
end
x(l)=x(l)-x(k)*p;
end
end
if abs(A(n,n))<eps then
disp("Non invertible Matrix ");
return;
end
// compute x
x(n)=x(n)/A(n,n);
for i=n-1:-1:1
s=0;
for j=i+1:n
s=s+A(i,j)*x(j);
end
x(i)=(x(i)-s)/A(i,i);
end
endfunction

33. GUI WITH SCILAB 5.5.0
New components, speed, default look and feel of the OS
Save and load GUI as XML files
:
• Save GUI with:
saveGui(f,"mygui.xml");
• Load GUI with:
f=loadGui("mygui.xml");

34. Scilab
is
The Professional Free
Software for Numerical Computation
Industry, Education and Research