How to protect intellectual property (IP) with an FMU exported from Simulink in R2020b?

Question

MathWorks Support Team 2019-7-3

编辑： MathWorks Support Team 2022-6-8

There are two different kinds of functional mockup unit (FMU) which can be exported from Simulink:

Which kind of FMU should I choose if my goal is IP protection?

Answer 1

编辑：MathWorks Support Team 2022-6-8

The FMI standard does not specify anything related to IP protection, however "Standalone" FMU exports get some degree of IP protection.

Standalone FMU:

Since Simulink Compiler uses the Simulink Coder infrastructure, FMU Export gets some level of IP protection:

Compiled binaries: the original Simulink model/source code are compiled into binary form (user cannot recover original Simulink model)
Obfuscated symbols: C function and global variable names are obfuscated after code generation (user cannot recover meaningful source code function/symbol names)

What FMU export does not have:

Obfuscated constants (user cannot recover meaningful string literals and numerical constants)
Additional encryption of dynamic library file (user cannot recover original memory layout)
Password protection for FMU zip package (user cannot decrypt FMU without password)

Tool-Coupling FMU:

There is no level of IP protection.

Other approaches to protect IP of your Simulink model that do not involve FMUs are mentioned in the following MATLAB Answers post: