ECE has license subscriptions to use all of Mathworks Inc.'s MATLAB software suite. As of July 2020 our campus MATLAB subscription is upgraded to “Full Suite,” meaning we are now licensed for every toolbox MathWorks publishes, both for research, classroom, and student licenses, and MATLAB online.

Please note that existing installs of MATLAB may still have only some toolboxes installed; to take full advantage of Full Suite, you'll want to either install the latest release, and/or update any existing installs to add toolboxes not already installed there. For classroom use, please be specific on toolbox requirements when coordinating with teaching lab admins about course requirements.

ECE has a license subscription to use MATLAB “Full Suite” for research purposes. This is provided through our network license server. Below, this page describes the Matlab network license held by ECE for research use - this is available to ECE professors, graduate students, and research staff (including visitors, volunteers, casuals, as well as undergrads doing research projects with an ECE faculty supervisor.)

ECE also holds “Classroom” licenses for MATLAB “Full Suite” for undergrad computing, in use in the undergrad drop-in computing labs and in teaching labs. Classroom licenses are managed separately by teaching lab support staff under Afshin Poraria.

If planning course assignments or labs using MATLAB toolboxes, please coordinate on software installation well in advance with the undergrad lab admins. These are separate licenses independent of ECE's research network license.

Under UofT's overall MATLAB subscription, each current student receives one individual MATLAB Full Suite license for use on one personally owned computer, as long as they are enrolled, via Mathworks UofT portal. This is a “node-locked” license, which does not require connecting to a license server and can be used anywhere, even offline. Student licenses should not be installed on UofT-owned computers, only personally-owned ones.

We provide a handy flowchart to guide you on which license type to use where, at matlab_setup_flowchart

UofT's MATLAB subscription also gives access to MATLAB Online where you can run MATLAB code in a browser session, without installing the application on your computer. You access MATLAB Online by logging in with your Mathworks login that is associated with UofT's subscription–either directly, for students, or via ECE's subscription, for faculty and staff, by associating your Mathworks login with ECE's subscription using our Activation Key during account setup.

Students access MATLAB Online via this TAH Portal link: MATLAB Online. Faculty and staff wanting access to MATLAB Online (for course prep, e.g.) and MATLAB Drive (to distribute MATLAB code to MATLAB Online users) should contact chris.finley {at} utoronto.ca with their Mathworks account email (preferably your @utoronto.ca or @mail.utoronto.ca email) and ask to be added to the Individual Entitlement to gain access. Identify yourself as a member of ECE.

Note: files shared through MATLAB Drive can only be accessed in the recipient's Mathwork's login (thus, each recipient must have one.) For course materials, it may be less work to keep distributing these through Quercus, where you can give access to all enrolled students without needing to enumerate each of their email addresses. To share material in MATLAB Drive to a whole class, you could use “create link” in MATLAB Drive and share the link through Quercus.

Our UofT Full Suite subscription also includes access to several other valuable resources, including:

• Mathworks' extensive courseware at https://matlabacademy.mathworks.com/
• MATLAB Grader for automating marking of MATLAB assignments
• Resources on teaching with MATLAB

ECE holds a 'network concurrent' license for MATLAB “Full Suite” (covering every toolbox and blockset that Mathworks offers) for use in research by ECE faculty, visitors, RAs, postdocs and students. This license is managed through one central network license server on ECE's network. Users can configure their MATLAB to get licenses from this network server; ECE research users may install MATLAB on any computers they use, and access licenses from our network license server. This requires a network connection to the server when launching MATLAB and throughout the time it is running and in use.

Research users may use our Matlab license both on and off campus; remote license access requires use of the ECE-VPN to connect to the network license server. (The VPN is required when connecting via UofT wifi, even when within ECE building space.)

MathWorks issued new releases of MATLAB each spring and fall. Release R2021a is the Spring 2021 release, and R2021b is the Fall 2021 release. MATLAB provides versions for Windows, macOS and Linux, all released simultaneously with each release number.

Note that for some releases, MathWorks also issues updates, which address functionality or security concerns. It is prudent to apply any updates to the release you are using. There is now a means to see available updates and initiate updating your existing MATLAB install through the “check for updates” sub-menu under the “Get Add-ons” menu in the MATLAB ribbon.

It is possible to install more than one release of MATLAB on the same computer, and installing a newer release does not automatically remove or uninstall any earlier releases. If you require a specific older release for code you have that is version-specific, you can keep two or more releases installed, and make use of shortcuts or symbolic links to manage which release you are launching.

In general, though, it's simpler to keep your code compatible with the latest release and to maintain only one current release installed on a given PC. Once you have installed a newer release and have it working, you can uninstall earlier releases.

See matlab_setup_flowchart on which license to use based on where you will run MATLAB. Research users in ECE may install ECE's research network license for Matlab on as many computers as you need; each will be configured to use our network concurrent license server for license compliance. Users now receive access via a free login on Mathworks.com website to download the stand-alone MATLAB setup program for their platform, and use “install online” to download and install full software components from MathWorks' site. Self-install instructions for computers you manage are posted at matlab_self_install.

For help on installing or updating MATLAB or a toolbox on a Tier 1 computer managed by our staff, please contact ECEHELP and we will install what you need.

To list all the features installed in your installation of Matlab, type 'ver' at the Matlab prompt. This will show the release number, license number, and list all the installed toolboxes and their version numbers.

In any recent release (R2018a on), there is a menu in the MATLAB ribbon named “Get add-ons.” On a system you manage / where you are able to install software, you can use this menu to see a list of all the toolboxes MathWorks offers, and to choose one not already installed to add to your existing MATLAB install. This works from within MATLAB (it will close your MATLAB session to allow the installer to proceed) and does not require you to run the stand-alone setup program used for a full install of MATLAB. (If you want to add a large number of toolboxes to an existing MATLAB you can also run the stand-alone setup program, directing it to install to the path where your existing MATLAB is installed, and choose any number of items from the list of available toolboxes to add them to your MATLAB in a single operation. Downloading and installing will take roughly the same time either way, but this way you only have to start up the stand-alone install once to select all the items on your list to be added.)

Note that updating applies only to updates of a given MATLAB release. You cannot use Get Add-Ons 'check for updates' function to upgrade to a later release number of MATLAB (e.g., from R2018a there is not an 'update' to get R2018b or later.) Getting a later release involves a separate install. It is possible to have more than one release of MATLAB installed on the same computer. In general, it's advisable to use the latest release of MATLAB. (One main exception would be if you are working with hardware drivers for real-time control, which may demand an exact release of MATLAB and of other system libraries for full compatibility.)

These are the features which ECE has licensed and used up to 2020; existing installs of MATLAB may include only some of these features. On systems where you are able to install software, you can add missing toolboxes in an existing install of MATLAB using the “Get add-ons” menu. With our subscription upgraded to “Full Suite” you are also able to install any other toolboxes not on this list.

• MATLAB
• SIMULINK
• Parallel Computing Toolbox - recommended for all multi-core hardware, can speed execution
• Communications Toolbox
• Control System Toolbox
• Curve Fitting Toolbox
• DSP System Toolbox
• Image Processing Toolbox
• Instrument Control Toolbox
• Optimization Toolbox
• Signal Processing Toolbox
• Statistics Toolbox
• Symbolic Math Toolbox
• Fixed Point Blockset
• Matlab Compiler
• Deep Learning (formerly Neural Network) Toolbox
• PDE Toolbox
• Simulink Control Design
• Wavelet Toolbox
• Matlab Coder
• Robust Control Toolbox
• System Identification Toolbox
• 5G Toolbox
• Bioinformatics Toolbox
• Dial and Gauge Blocks
• Filter Design Toolbox
• Fixed Point Toolbox
• Fuzzy Toolbox
• GADS Toolbox
• Image Acquisition Toolbox
• Instrument Control Toolbox
• LTE Toolbox
• MAP Toolbox
• MPC Toolbox
• Power System Blocks
• Real-Time Windows Target
• Real-Time Workshop
• RF Toolbox
• RF Blockset
• Video and Image Blockset
• Global Optimization Toolbox
• Simscape Electrical (formerly SimPower Systems)
• SerDes Toolbox
• Vehicle Network Toolbox

Here are a few toolboxes from the Full Suite list which might be applicable to some ECE research areas. You can read a brief intro to each toolbox in the Get Add-Ons window, or on mathworks.com. This link has a listing of the titles of all toolboxes included in Full Suite.

• Antenna Toolbox
• Audio Toolbox
• Automated Driving Toolbox
• Embedded Coder
• Filter Design HDL Coder
• GPU Coder
• HDL Coder
• HDL Verifier
• LTE HDL Toolbox
• MATLAB Parallel Server (for distributed computing across multiple hosts or nodes)
• Mixed-Signal Blockset
• Phased Array System Toolbox
• Sensor Fusion and Tracking Toolbox
• SoC Blockset
• WLAN Toolbox

Some third-party vendors offer software that functions under Matlab. These third-party toolboxes are licensed separately, not in our Matlab network license. PLECS from Plexim Software is one example.

Mathworks hosts a large collection of user-contributed content on their website at Mathworks File Exchange, and via “Get Add-ons” in MATLAB; use “filter by source” set to “community” to view and search among user-contributed add-ons. These include toolboxes, tutorials, demos, models and code sets. Remember to note the source of any user-contributed material you use and to credit the contributor in any derivative work you publish.