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HILST Simulation Interface
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Jaguar Cars Ltd
The trend towards distributed control in modern high-performance cars is well established. By siting dedicated control modules local to the device(s) to be controlled, savings are made in wiring costs, weight and assembly time while reliability and functionality are both improved.
In development, control modules are usually proved by fitting them to a car and road-testing. This can be a lengthy and costly process - especially if the target vehicle has not yet been built? Jaguar engineers have therefore been investigating the feasibility of Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation Testing - or HILST. This is a technique whereby a computer is used to simulate the duty cycles and stimuli that a typical control module might encounter in service. HILST allows limits to be explored and ‘what-if’ scenarios to be investigated. It can also run unattended.
The HILST computer alone, however, does not simulate the in-car electrical environment. In service, a module may be required to control heavy currents and variable loads: loads that may change with temperature as well as time. It may also need to handle a variety of inputs: from analogue or pulsed sensors as well as from simple switch contacts.
In July 1997, Jaguar commissioned add2 to design and build a programmable interface unit to simulate the electrical environment of a driver’s door control module. This project, which drew heavily on add2’s skills in innovative electronic product design, was acclaimed by all concerned to be an unqualified success.
The concepts developed in this work have since been further enhanced by add2 and a Generic Simulation Interface product in the form of Genix was soon made available. For more information see our pages on
Genix
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