<title>Hardware-in-the-loop simulation using direct signal injection</title>

Abstract

Hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulation combines functional hardware with digital models. This technique has proven useful for test and evaluation of guided missile seekers. In a nominal configuration, the seeker is stimulated by synthetic image data. Seeker outputs are passed to a simulation control computer that simulates guidance, navigation, control, and airframe response of the missile. The seeker can be stimulated either by a projector or by direct signal injection (DSI). Despite recent advancements in scene projection technology, there are practical limits to the scenes produced by a scene projector. Thus, the test method of choice is often DSI. This paper discusses DSI techniques for HWIL. In this mode, sensor hardware is not used; scene signature data, provided directly to the seeker signal processor, is computed and sensor measurement effects are simulated. The computed images include sensor effects such as blurring, sampling, detector response characteristics, and noise. This paper discusses DSI methods for HWIL, with specific applications at the Air Force Kinetic Kill Vehicle Hardware-in-the-loop Simulator facility.