Why does Simulink need MATLAB to run?

Why does Simulink need MATLAB to run? Does it use a MATLAB compiler to compile a model on Simulink? Or is it just because Simulink is a function of MATLAB? For a person who does not have that much RAM, it becomes frustrating when I need to reopen MATLAB and Simulink everytime it runs into a "not enough memory" error.

Answer 1

[Sharath Chandran]

Hi Suzuki,

• Simulink has been integrated with MATLAB to enable users incorporate MATLAB algorithms into models and export simulation results to MATLAB for further analysis. This makes Simulink robust and helps users leverage other MATLAB features along with Simulink.
• MATLAB launches Simulink as a child process as the later does not have a platform to run as a standalone application.

To solve the memory related issue that you are facing, you could try launching MATLAB using the following command:

 matalb -nojvm

This will launch MATLAB without the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) environment essentially cutting down RAM usage. You can then launch Simulink from MATLAB. However please note that there may be couple of features that might be missing or not function properly when using this workaround.

Alternatively, you could also try launching MATLAB using another command:

matlab -nodesktop

This will bring up a MATLAB command window.

Hope this resolves the issue!