What's New in Version 4.0

Highlights

• Modeling wireless sensor networks (see also VisualSense).
  The wireless domain extends the DE domain with wireless channel modeling and library of components and methodologies for modeling wireless systems. This domain is packaged in a Ptolemy II configuration called VisualSense, which includes an extensive suite of demos.
• Hierarchical classes, subclasses, and inner classes. (See also classes illustrated visually and Rijndael Encryption).
  Version 4.0 introduces actor-oriented classes, subclasses, and inner classes with inheritance. This is a major improvement in the modularity mechanisms available in actor-oriented design. A side effect of the class mechanism is that MoML files are now much smaller since they do not duplicate information defined in a base class.
• Lifecycle management (see also ModelReference).
  Version 4.0 introduces the first of a family of lifecycle management actors, which are actors that control the execution of associated models. This example uses one model to control repeated runs of another.

Other Key New Capabilities

• Statically Checked Unit System (see also the older Dynamically Checked Units System).
  The new statically checked units system associates units with ports and checks compatibility in connections.
• Higher-Order Components. Version 4.0 adds higher-order components, which are components (like actors) that operate on other components and functions rather than directly on data.
• Interactive decorations in Vergil diagrams.
  Actors can have custom icons, diagrams can be decorated with decorative elements, and parameters of the icons and decorative elements can be tied to values compute by the model.
• Reconfiguration analysis
  A new capability helps to ensure the safe use of reconfiguration. Currently it is primarily used by the code generator to ensure that synchronous dataflow rate parameters are constant over the lifetime of the model. This analysis also enables parameterized static scheduling of some models where rate parameters change only between iterations of a sub-model.
• de/demo/HierarchicalModel/HierarchicalModel.xml (Removed after 7.0) Causality analysis (see also SR FeedbackLoop).
  A new (and still evolving) capability unifies causality analysis that is required by several domains. It provides a systematic framework for determining whether events at a particular input affect a particular output.
• Copernicus
  The copernicus code generator has matured significantly:
  • Better handling of data types, reconfiguration, and attributes other than simple parameters.
  • Code Generation for the Giotto domain.
  • A primitive code generator for generating atomic actors from models.
  • Static analysis of reachable code for generating self-contained jar files.

New and Enhanced Actor Libraries

• Security library.
• Array manipulation library.
• Communications library (see also ConvolutionalCoder, Scrambler, TrellisDecoder, ViterbiDecoder).

New Demonstrations of Older Capabilities

• Self repairing model.
• Using function closures to simplify a hybrid system model (of a car transmission). (In Ptolemy II 8.0, the continuous domain was created. Between Ptolemy II 8.0 and 10.0, ct was removed. The paths to the demos have been updated from domains/ct to domains/continuous.)
• SynthesizedVoice.

Capabilities requiring additional software and/or hardware

• Using the serial port. (see SerialPort actor documentation).
• X10 power-line network
  Note that the X10 jar file is under the GNU General Public License, so we do not ship the X10 jar file with the Windows installer. Thus, the X10 actors will not work
• The Matlab Expression actor now takes a String Parameter instead of a StringAttribute. This means that you can now reference parameters in scope using the $name or ${name} syntax. For instance, if there is a parameter named foo, you can specify a Matlab expression like:

      output = fft(in, $foo)
  

  Before, you would have to have read foo in a Const actor and provided it as input to the Matlab expression actor.
• Java Media Framework (JMF) (see JMF actor documentation).
• see GR Quicktime actors.

Additional Features

• Other updates to Vergil:
  Expert mode parameter editing
  vergil -help lists available configurations.
  Full-screen mode for use in presentations (accessible from the toolbar).
  DocumentationAttribute
  IDAttribute (Moved between Ptolemy II 4.0 and 5.0)
• Single Window Mode (contributed by Thales).
  If vergil -single is invoked, then a single window interface is used. This interface is experimental.
  Limitations:
  • The -single argument should be the first argument.
  • The plot windows come up outside of the single window interface.
• XMLToken. This is a preliminary mechanism for manipulating XML data in Ptolemy II models.
• Sandbox support
  Vergil has better support for operating in a security sandbox. For details, see the Ptolemy II Sandbox documentation.

New Actors