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Array Plot

Display vectors or arrays

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  • Array Plot block

Libraries:
DSP System Toolbox / Sinks

Description

The Array Plot block plots vectors or arrays of data.

Array Plot block window

The Array Plot is a vector plot where data is uniformly spaced along the x-axis. To modify the spacing, change the Sample Increment property.

Measurements available:

  • Data Cursors — Measure signal values using vertical and horizontal cursors.

  • Signal Statistics — Display the maximum, minimum, peak-to-peak difference, mean, median, and RMS values of a selected signal.

  • Peak Finder — Find maxima, showing the x-axis values at which they occur.

Examples

Group Delay Estimation in Simulink

Group Delay Estimation in Simulink

Estimate the group delay of a filter in Simulink®.

Analyze a Subband of Input Frequencies Using Zoom FFT

Analyze a Subband of Input Frequencies Using Zoom FFT

Compute the zoom FFT of a sine wave in Simulink®.

Active Noise Control with Simulink Real-Time

Active Noise Control with Simulink Real-Time

Design a real-time active noise control system using a Speedgoat® Simulink® Real-Time™ target.

(Audio Toolbox)

Streaming Power Spectrum Estimation Using Welch's Method

Streaming Power Spectrum Estimation Using Welch's Method

Use Welch's method of averaged modified periodogram to estimate power spectrum.

Configure Array Plot From the Command-Line

Configure Array Plot From the Command-Line

Change Array Plot block behavior and appearance from the command line.

Estimate Transfer Function in Simulink

Estimate Transfer Function in Simulink

To estimate the transfer function of a system in Simulink®, use the Discrete Transfer Function Estimator block. The block implements the Welch's average modified periodogram method and uses the measured input and output data for estimation.

Ports

Input

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Connect the signals you want to visualize. You can have up to 96 input ports. Input signals must have these characteristics:

  • Fixed number of channels, but size can be variable

  • Discrete, continuous, or constant sample time

  • Real or complex values

  • Floating- or fixed-point data type

  • 2-D and nonscalar

The Array Plot block supports inputs with different frame lengths.

This block accepts fixed-point input, but converts it to double for display.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | Boolean | fixed point | enumerated
Complex Number Support: Yes

Properties

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For information about how to configure the Array Plot and use the toolstrip, see Configure Array Plot.

Scope

Select this option to show the legend on the plot. The names listed in the legend are taken from the Channel Names property.

From the legend, you can control which signals are visible. This control is equivalent to changing the visibility in the Color and Styling properties. In the scope legend, click a signal name to hide the signal in the scope. To show the signal, click the signal name again. To show only one signal, right-click the signal name, which hides all other signals. To show all signals, press Esc.

Note

The legend only shows the first 20 signals. Any additional signals cannot be controlled from the legend.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: ShowLegend
Type: logical

Since R2024b

Click Display Grid and select a grid to specify the layout of the display. When you select a 2-by-2 layout, for example, the scope shows four displays arranged in a 2-by-2 matrix. The grid can have a maximum of five rows and five columns.

If you create a grid of multiple axes, to modify the settings of the individual axes, use the Active Display property in the Array Plot settings.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: LayoutDimensions
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: two-element vector

Click this button to copy the scope display to the clipboard. You can preserve the color in the display by selecting Preserve Colors in the Copy Display drop down.

When you copy the display to the clipboard using the Copy Display and the Print options in the Scope tab > Share section, select this parameter for the scope to preserve the colors.

To access Preserve Colors, click the drop-down arrow for Copy Display.

Tunable: Yes

Click this button to save the scope display as an image or a PDF or to print the display.

Measurements

For more information about the measurements, see Use Array Plot Measurements.

Settings

Data and Axes

Select the type of spacing to use between x-axis data values.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: XDataMode
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: 'Sample increment and X-offset' | 'Custom'

Specify the spacing between samples along the x-axis as a finite numeric scalar. The input signal is only y-axis data. x-axis data is set automatically based on both the Sample Increment and X-Offset values.

Example: When X-Offset is 0 and Sample Increment is 1, the x-axis values are set to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, … .

Example: When X-Offset is -1 and Sample Increment is 0.25, the x-axis values are set to -1, -0.75, -0.5, -0.25, 0, … .

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

To use this property, set X-Data Mode to Increment and Offset.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: SampleIncrement
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: scalar

Specify the offset to apply to the x-axis, as a numeric scalar. x-axis data is set automatically based on both the Sample Increment and X-Offset values. The x-offset represents the first value on the x-axis.

Example: When X-Offset is 0 and Sample Increment is 1, the x-axis values are set to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, … .

Example: When X-Offset is -1 and Sample Increment is 0.25, the x-axis values are set to -1, -0.75, -0.5, -0.25, 0, … .

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

To use this property, set X-Data Mode to Increment and Offset.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: XOffset
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: scalar

Specify the x-axis data values as a vector equal in length to the frame length of the inputs. If you use the default (empty vector) value, the x-axis data is uniformly spaced over the interval (0:L-1), where L is the frame length.

Example: A custom logarithmic x-axis data scaling is [0:log10(44100/2):1024]

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

To use this property, set X-Data Mode to Custom.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: CustomXData
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: scalar
Default: '[]'

The number of input ports to the block, specified as an integer between 1 and 96. To change the number of input ports, drag a new input signal line to the block and the block automatically creates new ports.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: NumInputPorts
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: scalar between 1 and 96

Select this parameter to automatically open the Array Plot window when you run the simulation.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: OpenAtSimulationStart
Type: logical

Display and Labels

Select Linear or Log as the x-axis scale.

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

If X-Offset is a negative value, you cannot set this parameter to Log.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: XScale
Type: character vector or string scalar

Select Linear or Log as the y-axis scale.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: YScale
Type: character vector or string scalar

Since R2024b

Specify the precision of numeric values in the scope display as a positive integer in the range [1, 15].

Tunable: Yes

Since R2024b

Specify the active display as an integer display number. The settings in the Y-Limits, X-Label, Y-Label, Show Legend, Show Grid, Title, and Magnitude Phase Plot properties affect only the active display.

The number of the display corresponds to the row-wise placement index of the display. To control the layout of the display, click Display Grid in the Scope tab and select a layout.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: ActiveDisplay
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: integer display number ≥ 1

Specify the text for the scope to display below the x-axis.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: XLabel
Type: character vector or string scalar
Default: ''

Specify the text to display on the y-axis. To display signal units, add (%<SignalUnits>) to the label. At the beginning of a simulation, Simulink replaces (%<SignalUnits>) with the units associated with the signals.

Example: For a velocity signal with units of m/s, enter Velocity (%<SignalUnits>).

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

If you select Magnitude Phase Plot in the scope settings, this property does not apply. The y-axes are labeled Magnitude and Phase.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: YLabel
Type: character vector or string scalar
Default: ''

Specify a title for display. To use the input signal name for the title, enter %<SignalLabel>.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: Title
Type: character vector or string scalar
Default: ''

Specify the y-axis limits as a two-element numeric vector, [ymin, ymax].

If you clear Magnitude Phase Plot, the default is [-10,10]. If the magnitude/phase plot is on, the default is [0,10].

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

When you select Magnitude Phase Plot, this property specifies the y-axis limits of only the magnitude plot. The y-axis limits of the phase plot are always [-180,180].

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: YLimits
Type: character vector or string scalar
Value: two-element numeric vector

Since R2024b

  • on — The scope displays magnitude and phase plots. If the signal is real, the scope plots the absolute value of the signal for the magnitude. The phase is 0 degrees for positive values and 180 degrees for negative values. This feature is useful for complex-valued input signals. If the input is a real-valued signal, selecting this parameter returns the absolute value of the signal for the magnitude.

  • off — The scope displays a signal plot. If the signal is complex, the scope plots the real and imaginary parts on the same y-axis.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: PlotAsMagnitudePhase
Type: logical

Since R2024b

Select this parameter to display the legend in the scope.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: ShowLegend
Type: logical

Select this option to show grid lines on the plot.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: ShowGrid
Type: logical

Color and Styling

  • Stem — Stem graph displayed as circles at the input value with vertical lines to the x-axis.

  • Line — Line graph.

  • Stairs — Stair-step graph. A stair-step graph is made up of only horizontal and vertical lines. Each horizontal line represents the signal value for a discrete sample period and is connected to two vertical lines. Each vertical line represents the change in the signal value occurring at a specific sample time.

  • Bar –– Bar plot. (since R2024b)

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: PlotType
Type: character vector or string scalar

Specify the font size of labels in the display as a finite positive real scalar in the range [1,100].

Tunable: Yes

Specify the background color in the scope figure.

Tunable: Yes

Specify the background color of the axes.

Tunable: Yes

Specify the color of the labels, grid, and the channel names in the legend.

Tunable: Yes

Specify the channel for which you want to modify the visibility, line color, style, width, and marker properties.

Tunable: Yes

Select this check box to display the channel you have selected. If you clear this check box, the selected channel is no longer visible. You can also click the signal name in the legend to control its visibility. For more details, see Legend.

Tunable: Yes

Specify the line style for the selected channel.

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

To enable this property, select Plot Type to Bar. (since R2024b)

Specify the line width for the selected channel when you select Plot Type to Line, Stairs, or Stem. The default value of line width is 1.5.

When you set Plot Type to Bar, you can use this property to specify the relative width of individual bars for the selected channel. The value of this property can be a scalar in the range [0,1]. Use this property to control the separation of bars within a display. At the default value of 0.9, the scope separates the bars slightly. If you set this property to 1, then adjacent bars touch. (since R2024b)

Tunable: Yes

Specify a data point marker for the selected channel. This parameter is similar to the Marker property for plots. You can choose any of the marker symbols from the drop-down list.

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

To enable this property, select Plot Type to Bar. (since R2024b)

Specify the line color for the selected channel.

Tunable: Yes

Property Inspector Only

Input channel names, specified as a character vector, string, or array of either. The names appear in the legend, Settings, and Measurements panels. If you do not specify names, the channels are labeled as Channel 1, Channel 2, etc.

Example: ["A","B"]

Dependencies

To see channel names, set Legend to true.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: ChannelNames
Type: cell array of character vectors or string array

  • Auto — If Title and Y-Label properties are not specified, maximize all plots.

  • On — Maximize all plots. Values in Title and Y-label are hidden.

  • Off — Do not maximize plots.

Hover over the array plot to see the maximize axes button .

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: MaximizeAxes
Type: character vector or string scalar

  • OnceAtStop — Scale y-axis after the simulation is finished.

  • Manual — Manually scale y-axis range with the Scale Y-axis Limits toolbar button.

  • Auto — Scale y-axis range during and after simulation.

  • Updates — Scale y-axis after the number of time steps specified in the Number of Updates text box (100 by default). Scaling occurs only once during each run.

Tunable: Yes

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: AxesScaling
Type: character vector or string scalar

Set this property to delay auto scaling the y-axis.

Tunable: Yes

Dependencies

To enable this property, set Axes Scaling to Updates.

Programmatic Use

Block Parameter: AxesScalingNumUpdates
Type: character vector or string scalar
Values: scalar

Block Characteristics

Data Types

Boolean | double | enumerated | fixed point | half | integer | single

Direct Feedthrough

no

Multidimensional Signals

yes

Variable-Size Signals

yes

Zero-Crossing Detection

no

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced in R2015b

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See Also

Blocks

Objects

Topics