A cost- and time-effective hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform for automotive engine control systems

Abstract

A new PC-based hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) platform is developed for designing an automotive engine control system. The HILS equipment consists of a widely used PC and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) I/O boards instead of a powerful computing system and custom-made I/O boards. These features make the HILS equipment more cost effective and flexible. The HILS uses an automatic code generation extension, REAL-TIME WORKSHOP® of the MATLAB® tool-chain, which is one of the standard tools for modelling and off-line simulation in the area of controller design. This helps the control system developers to handle the controlled-object model more easily and to test the control system more comfortably and time effectively. The mean value engine model, which is used in the control design phase, is imported in this HILS. The engine model is supplemented with some I/O subsystems and I/O boards to interface actual input and output signals in real time. The I/O subsystems are designed to synchronize the status of the engine model with the control system as well as to convert the raw data of the I/O boards to the appropriate forms for proper interfaces. To prove the feasibilities of the proposed environment, a pilot project for the development of an air-to-fuel ratio control system is carried out. The HILS environment is proved to be an efficient tool to develop various control functions and to validate the software and hardware of the engine control system.