Interpolation

Interpolation¶

In this chapter, we will example different ways of implementing a simple one dimension interpolation scheme. We’ll start with an approach that is written completely in Modelica and then show an alternative implementation that combines Modelica with C. The advantages and disadvantages of each approach will then be discussed.

Modelica Implementation¶

Function Definition¶

For this example, we assume that we interpolate data in the following form:

 Independent Variable, x Dependent Variable, y x_1 y_1 x_2 y_2 x_3 y_3 … … x_n y_n

where we assume that .

Given this data and the value for the independent variable that we are interested in, our function should return an interpolated value for . Such a function could be implemented in Modelica as follows:

function InterpolateVector "Interpolate a function defined by a vector"
input Real x         "Independent variable";
input Real ybar[:,2] "Interpolation data";
output Real y        "Dependent variable";
protected
Integer i;
Integer n = size(ybar,1) "Number of interpolation points";
Real p;
algorithm
assert(x>=ybar[1,1], "Independent variable must be greater than or equal to "+String(ybar[1,1]));
assert(x<=ybar[n,1], "Independent variable must be less than or equal to "+String(ybar[n,1]));
i := 1;
while x>=ybar[i+1,1] loop
i := i + 1;
end while;
p := (x-ybar[i,1])/(ybar[i+1,1]-ybar[i,1]);
y := p*ybar[i+1,2]+(1-p)*ybar[i,2];
end InterpolateVector;


Let’s go through this function piece by piece to understand what is going on. We’ll start with the argument declarations:

  input Real x         "Independent variable";
input Real ybar[:,2] "Interpolation data";
output Real y        "Dependent variable";


The input argument x represents the value of the independent variable we wish to use for interpolating our function, the input argument ybar represents the interpolation data and the output argument y represents the interpolated value. The next part of the function contains:

protected
Integer i;
Integer n = size(ybar,1) "Number of interpolation points";
Real p;


The part of our function includes the declaration of various protected variables. As we saw in our Polynomial Evaluation example, these are effectively intermediate variables used internally by the function. In this case, i is going to be used as an index variable, n is the number of data points in our interpolation data and p represents a weight used in our interpolation scheme.

With all the variable declarations out of the way, we can now implement the algorithm section of our function:

algorithm
assert(x>=ybar[1,1], "Independent variable must be greater than or equal to "+String(ybar[1,1]));
assert(x<=ybar[n,1], "Independent variable must be less than or equal to "+String(ybar[n,1]));
i := 1;
while x>=ybar[i+1,1] loop
i := i + 1;
end while;
p := (x-ybar[i,1])/(ybar[i+1,1]-ybar[i,1]);
y := p*ybar[i+1,2]+(1-p)*ybar[i,2];


The first two statements are assert statements that verify that the value of x is within the interval . If not, an error message will be generated explaining why the interpolation failed.

The rest of the function searches for the value of i such that . Once that value of i has been identified, the interpolated value is computed as simply:

where

Test Case¶

Now, let’s test this function by using it from within a model. As a simple test case, let’s integrate the value returned by the interpolation function. We’ll use the following data as the basis for our function:

 x y 0 0 2 0 4 2 6 0 8 0

If we plot this data, we see that our interpolated function looks like this:

In the following model, the independent variable x is set equal to time. The sample data is then used to interpolate a value for the variable y. The value of y is then integrated to compute z.

model IntegrateInterpolatedVector "Exercises the InterpolateVector"
Real x;
Real y;
Real z;
equation
x = time;
y = InterpolateVector(x, [0.0, 0.0; 2.0, 0.0; 4.0, 2.0; 6.0, 0.0; 8.0, 0.0]);
der(z) = y;
annotation (experiment(StopTime=6));
end IntegrateInterpolatedVector;


We can see the simulated results from this model in the following plot:

There are a couple of drawbacks to this approach. The first is that the data needs to be passed around anywhere the function is used. Also, for higher dimensional interpolation schemes, the data required can be both complex (for irregular grids) and large. So it is not necessarily convenient to store the data in the Modelica source code. For example, it might be preferable to store the data in an external file. However, to populate the interpolation data from a source other than the Modelica source code, we will need to use an ExternalObject.

Using an ExternalObject¶

The ExternalObject type is a special type used to refer to information that is not (necessarily) represented in the Modelica source code. The main use of the ExternalObject type is to represent data or state that is maintained outside the Modelica source code. This might be interpolation data, as we will see in a moment, or it might represent some other software system that maintains its own state.

Test Case¶

For this example, we will flip things around and start with the test case. This will provide some useful context about how an ExternalObject is used. The Modelica source code for our test case is:

model IntegrateInterpolatedExternalVector
"Exercises the InterpolateExternalVector"
parameter VectorTable vector = VectorTable(ybar=[0.0, 0.0;
2.0, 0.0;
4.0, 2.0;
6.0, 0.0;
8.0, 0.0]);
Real x;
Real y;
Real z;
equation
x = time;
y = InterpolateExternalVector(x, vector);
der(z) = y;
annotation (experiment(StopTime=6));
end IntegrateInterpolatedExternalVector;


Here the main difference between this and our previous test case is the fact that we don’t pass our data directly into the interpolation function. Instead, we create a special variable vector whose type is VectorTable. We’ll discuss exactly what a VectorTable is in a moment. But for now think of it as something that represents (only) our interpolation data. Other than the creation of the vector object, the rest of the model is virtually identical to the previous case except that we use the InterpolateExternalVector function to perform our interpolation and we pass the vector variable into that function in place of our raw interpolation data.

Simulating this model, we see that the results are exactly what we would expect when compared to our previous test case:

Defining an ExternalObject¶

To see how this most recent test case is implemented, we’ll first look at how the VectorTable type is implemented. As mentioned previously, the VectorTable is an ExternalObject type. This is a special type in Modelica that is used to represent what is often called an “opaque” pointer. This means that the ExternalObject represents some data that is not directly accessible (from Modelica).

In our case, we implement our VectorTable type as:

type VectorTable "A vector table implemented as an ExternalObject"
extends ExternalObject;
function constructor
input Real ybar[:,2];
output VectorTable table;
external "C" table=createVectorTable(ybar, size(ybar,1))
annotation(IncludeDirectory="modelica://ModelicaByExample.Functions.Interpolation/source",
Include="#include \"VectorTable.c\"");
end constructor;

function destructor "Release storage"
input VectorTable table;
external "C" destroyVectorTable(table)
annotation(IncludeDirectory="modelica://ModelicaByExample.Functions.Interpolation/source",
Include="#include \"VectorTable.c\"");
end destructor;
end VectorTable;


Note that the VectorTable inherits from the ExternalObject type. An ExternalObject can have two special functions implemented inside its definition, the constructor function and the destructor function. Both of these functions are seen here.

Constructor¶

The constructor function is invoked when an instance of a VectorTable is created (e.g., the declaration of the vector variable in our test case). This constructor function is used to initialize our opaque pointer. Whatever data is required as part of that initialization process should be passed as argument to the constructor function. That same data should be present during instantiation (.e.g, the data argument in our declaration of the vector variable).

The definition of the constructor function is unusual because, unlike our previous examples, it does not include an algorithm section. The algorithm section is normally used to compute the return value of the function. Instead, the constructor function has an external clause. This indicates that the function is implemented in some other language besides Modelica. In this case, that other language is C (as indicated by the "C" following the external keyword). This tells use that the table variable (which is the output of this function and represents the opaque pointer) is returned by a C function named createVectorTable which is passed the contents and size of the ybar variable.

Following the call to createVectorTable is an annotation. This annotation tells the Modelica compiler where to find the source code for this external C function.

The essential point here is that from the point of view of the Modelica compiler, a VectorTable is just an opaque pointer returned by createVectorTable. It is not possible to access the data behind this pointer from Modelica. But this pointer can be passed to other functions, as we shall see in a minute, that are also implemented in C and which do know how to access the data represented by the VectorTable.

Destructor¶

The destructor function is invoked whenever the ExternalObject is no longer needed. This allows the Modelica runtime to clean up any memory consumed by the ExternalObject. An ExternalObject instantiated in a model will generally persist until the end of the simulation. But an ExternalObject declared as a protected variable in a function, for example, may be created and destroyed in the course of a single expression evaluation. For that reason, it is important to make sure that any memory allocated by the ExternalObject is released.

In general, the destructor function is also implemented as an external function. In this case, calling the destructor function from Modelica invokes the C function destroyVectorTable which is passed a VectorTable instance as an argument. Any memory associated with that VectorTable instance should be freed by the call to destructor. Again, we see the same types of annotations used to inform the Modelica compiler where to find the source code for the destoryVectorTable function.

External C Code¶

These external C functions are implemented as follows:

#ifndef _VECTOR_TABLE_C_
#define _VECTOR_TABLE_C_

#include <stdlib.h>
#include "ModelicaUtilities.h"

/*
Here we define the structure associated
with our ExternalObject type 'VectorTable'
*/
typedef struct {
double *x; /* Independent variable values */
double *y; /* Dependent variable values */
size_t npoints; /* Number of points in this data */
size_t lastIndex; /* Cached value of last index */
} VectorTable;

void *
createVectorTable(double *data, size_t np) {
VectorTable *table = (VectorTable*) malloc(sizeof(VectorTable));
if (table) {
/* Allocate memory for data */
table->x = (double*) malloc(sizeof(double)*np);
if (table->x) {
table->y = (double*) malloc(sizeof(double)*np);
if (table->y) {
/* Copy data into our local array */
size_t i;
for(i=0;i<np;i++) {
table->x[i] = data[2*i];
table->y[i] = data[2*i+1];
}
/* Initialize the rest of the table object */
table->npoints = np;
table->lastIndex = 0;
}
else {
free(table->x);
free(table);
table = NULL;
ModelicaError("Memory allocation error\n");
}
}
else {
free(table);
table = NULL;
ModelicaError("Memory allocation error\n");
}
}
else {
ModelicaError("Memory allocation error\n");
}
return table;
}

void
destroyVectorTable(void *object) {
VectorTable *table = (VectorTable *)object;
if (table==NULL) return;
free(table->x);
free(table->y);
free(table);
}

double
interpolateVectorTable(void *object, double x) {
VectorTable *table = (VectorTable *)object;
size_t i = table->lastIndex;
double p;

ModelicaFormatMessage("Request to compute value of y at %g\n", x);
if (x<table->x[0])
ModelicaFormatError("Requested value of x=%g is below the lower bound of %g\n",
x, table->x[0]);
if (x>table->x[table->npoints-1])
ModelicaFormatError("Requested value of x=%g is above the upper bound of %g\n",
x, table->x[table->npoints-1]);

while(i<table->npoints-1&&x>table->x[i+1]) i++;
while(i>0&&x<table->x[i]) i--;

p = (x-table->x[i])/(table->x[i+1]-table->x[i]);
table->lastIndex = i;
return p*table->y[i+1]+(1-p)*table->y[i];
}

#endif


This is not a book on the C programming language so an exhaustive review of this code and exactly how it functions is beyond the scope of the book. But we can summarize the contents of this file as follows.

First, the struct called VectorTable is the data associated wit the VectorTable type in Modelica. This includes not just the interpolation data (in the form of the x and y members), but also the number of data points, npoints, and a cached value for the last used index, lastIndex.

Next, we see the createVectorTable function which allocates an instance of the VectorTable structure and initializes all the data inside it. That instance is then returned to the Modelica runtime. Following the definition of createVectorTable is the definition of destroyVectorTable which effectively undoes what was done by createVectorTable.

Finally, we see the function interpolateVectorTable. This is a C function that is passed an instance of the VectorTable structure and a value for the independent variable and returns the interpolated value for the dependent variable. This function performs almost exactly the same function as the InterpolateVector function presented earlier. The Modelica runtime provides functions like ModelicaFormatError so that external C code can report errors. In the case of interpolateVectorTable, these functions are used to implement the assertions we saw previously in InterpolateVector. The lookup of i is basically the same except that instead of starting from 1 each time, it starts from the value of i found in the last call to interpolateVectorTable.

Interpolation¶

We’ve seen how interpolateVectorTable is defined, but so far we haven’t seen where it is used. We mentioned that performs very much the same role as InterpolateVector, but using a VectorTable object to represent the interpolation data. To invoke interpolateVectorTable from Modelica, we simple need to define a Modelica function as follows:

function InterpolateExternalVector
"Interpolate a function defined by a vector using an ExternalObject"
input Real x;
input VectorTable table;
output Real y;
external "C" y = interpolateVectorTable(table, x)
annotation(IncludeDirectory="modelica://ModelicaByExample.Functions.Interpolation/source",
Include="#include \"VectorTable.c\"");
end InterpolateExternalVector;


We mentioned previously that VectorTable is opaque and that Modelica code cannot access the data contained in the VectorTable. The Modelica function InterpolateExternalVector invokes its C counterpart interpolateVectorTable which can access the interpolation data and, therefore, perform the interpolation.

Discussion¶

As was discussed previously, the initial interpolation approach required us to pass around large amounts of unwieldy data. By implementing the VectorTable, we were able to represent that data by a single variable.

An important thing to note about the ExternalObject approach, which isn’t adequately explored in our example, is that the initialization data can be completely external to the Modelica source code. For simplicity, the example code shown in this section initializes the VectorTable using an array of data. But it could just as easily have passed a file name to the initialization code. That file could then have been read by the createVectorTable function and the contents of the VectorTable structure could have been initialized using the data from that file. In many cases, this approach not only makes managing the data easier, but leveraging C allows more complex (new or existing) algorithms to be used.

The next section includes another example of how external C code can be called from Modelica.