# Getting started

Because the toolbox is currently in the alpha stage of development, a complete user manual is not yet ready. However, a quick-start guide will be published here soon. For now, some prerequisites are given, the installation procedure under MATLAB is described and some tips are provided.

## 1  Prerequisites

FOMCON toolbox is developed and tested in MATLAB version 7.10 (R2010a). However, the features are compatible with earlier releases, e.g. 7.4+. Since it is impossible for us to test the toolbox in every MATLAB release, any bug reports are appreciated.

The following MATLAB toolboxes are required for FOMCON to work:

• Control System toolbox;
• Optimization toolbox.

However, even if the Optimization toolbox is not available in the MATLAB installation, it is still possible to use certain toolbox features.

## 2  Installation

The installation currently comprises the following steps:

1. Decompress the zipped folder into a directory of your choice, e.g. C:\fomcon\
2. Setup the directory in your MATLAB path. In the MATLAB, go to File > Set Path... and click on Add with Subfolders.... Now, select the directory that contains the fomcon folder. This completes the installation.

Note: if you are not running MATLAB as administrator, you will probably need to save the MATLAB path into your personal user directory, i.e. the second step of the installation procedure will need to be repeated for every user that needs to access the toolbox.

## 3  Quick-start tips

You can start by loading up some exemplary fractional models into the MATLAB base workspace by typing the following in the MATLAB command line:

loadsets

MATLAB should report: “All test sets loaded successfully”. Now, you can type

fomcon

to launch the main module graphical user interface and experiment with the provided fractional-order systems, e.g. analyze them, design fractional controllers etc. Since all graphical user interfaces are internally linked through the menu it should be easy to accomplish this set of tasks.