Hardware-in-the-loop

HARDWARE

-IN-THE -LOOP

Faster Testing, Great Results

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation is the standard for developing and testing the most complex control, protection and monitoring systems. HIL’s rise is the result of two major factors currently affecting product development across all industries: time-to-market and system complexity.


Testing of control systems has traditionally been carried out directly on physical equipment (i.e. plant) in the field, on the full system or on a power testbed in a lab. While offering testing fidelity, this practice can be very expensive, inefficient and potentially unsafe.


HIL testing offers an excellent alternative to traditional testing methods. When performing HIL simulation, the physical plant is replaced by a precisely equivalent computer model, running in real-time on a simulator appropriately equipped with inputs and outputs (I/Os) capable of interfacing with control systems and other equipment. In this way, the HIL simulator can accurately reproduce the plant and its dynamics, together with sensors and actuators, providing comprehensive closed-loop testing without the need for testing on real systems.


HIL offers all this functionality and more, while significantly decreasing the deficiencies of traditional testing methods. By reducing risk, cost and the overall time required to test complex embedded systems, HIL simulation has become the standard for a great many industries around the world.





Hardware-in-the-loop Process

Hardware-in-the-loop Process

Most Efficient Development and Testing

Save Time

The tight development schedules of today’s automotive, aerospace and defence programs cannot afford to wait for available prototypes for embedded system testing. By the time a new automobile engine prototype is available for control system testing, as much as 95% of testing will already have been completed using HIL simulation.


Reduce Cost

Frequently, plants are more expensive and have a higher burden-rate than high-fidelity real-time simulators. With few exceptions, developing and testing while connected to a HIL simulator is far more economical than on a physical plant.

Reduce Risk, Increase Safety

HIL simulation enables engineers to perform tests that would otherwise endanger physical plants and the people who work in them. Using HIL, engineers can perform even the most dangerous testing scenarios worry-free, thereby enhancing the safe operation of a plant.

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