Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) simulation solution

hardware in the loop simulation

Introduction / summary:

Early integration and validation of ECUs (electronic control units) is key for successful and cost-efficient development of automated vehicles.

With our data replay and simulation solutions you can test the functions, system integration, and (inter-)communication of ECUs (e. g. ADAS or Infotainment) in a simulated environment under realistic conditions facilitating the difficult and time-extensive process step of in-car-integration and -validation.

Our modular hardware and software solutions have shown their benefits in various projects with OEMs and tier-1s:
From individual test benches supporting software developers up to highly-scaled and performant HiL farms with hundreds of HiLs running 24/7 and generating KPIs for the qualification of ECUs.

With EB Assist Replay Solution you will be able to accurately replay your vehicle sensor data like video (e.g. with EBX3 card: GMSL2/FPD3/GVIF) or bus communication (e.g. with EBX3 card: 2.5 GBASE-T1, Automotive Ethernet, CAN/CAN-FD, Flexray, DSI3, GPS) in a time synced way.

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) - Test solution details

The ADTF HiL Framework orchestrates highly accurate, time-synchronized replay of recordings and integrates RestBus simulations.
Core functionality HiL, involves efficiently buffering recorded data and precise time synchronized streaming.
Time-synchronized injection of recorded, emulated, and simulated data for DuT.
Captures time-synchronized data streams from MIPI, LVDS, CAN, ETH, Flexray, and more.
Generates Synthetic, Emulated, Augmented, and Simulated Rest Bus data within the system.
Ensures Time synchronized between data streams.
Generates Synthetic, Emulated, Augmented, and Simulated necessary Rest Bus data.
State Machine control for secure HiL initialization and operations.
Manages and monitors time synchronization across multiple data streams.
Signal-level processing, manipulation, and monitoring of the data stream.
Visualizes signals and data streams via graphics, video, text, point clouds, and data samples.
Involves tracking and visualizing data signals within the system.
Entails processing, modifying, and transforming data signals within the system.
Generates Synthetic, Emulated, Augmented, and Simulated data within the system.
Supports cybersecurity protocols for verifying and authenticating secure data transfers with DuT.
Facilitating communication with the EB card for capturing sensor data.
The Host-based RBS application enables HiL testing by simulating remaining bus for Ethernet on a Host-PC.
Precise communication and handling of SOME/IP SD.
Handles IPsec UDP/TCP security for verifying and authenticating data transfers, ensuring secure communication.
Reassembly and Fragmentation handling of the PDUs without data loss.
Reassembly and Fragmentation handling of the data frames without data loss.
An ETL tool processing data from ARXML files, generating JSON files for RBS applications in ReplayHiL.

HiL operating framework Capture & Streaming Data injection Data capturing Data generation Time Sync & Control Time synchronization Execution control Time Sync Monitoring Signal processing Signal visualization Signal monitoring Signal manipulation Signal generation SecOC/SOK Bus tools connector Host-based RBS application Service Discovery handling Security mechanism handling PDU packaging/depackaging Frame packaging/depackaging Host-based RBS configurator
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Benefits

Improve product quality

Safely test any given situation in a simulated environment and foster quality control. Our solutions are compliant with the latest AUTOSAR version, meeting the highest quality criteria of mass production software. While we currently support up to R20-11, we are continuously working towards integrating the latest version R23-11.

Maximum efficiency

Validate the ECU functionality through processing real driving scene data and shorten the time to market despite more and more complex vehicle network architectures. Profit from high processing power that allows the replay of multiple sensor streams such as camera, LIDAR, or vehicle bus communication.

Minimize in-car integration efforts through off-car reproducibility

Simulated tests are easy to reproduce and allow for the detection of errors already during predevelopment, playing a crucial part in bringing vehicles into mass production. Moreover, implementations and error corrections can be pre-verified prior to (expensive) overall in-car integration.

Ready to use, customizable turnkey solutions

A solution built from interlocking and proven-in-use hardware and software products, ready to use right from the start. Easily customizable with our specific add-ons or your own unique extensions.

High level of safety through error injection and edge case testing

The signal manipulation capabilities of our solutions allow on-the-fly introduction of error cases (e. g. out-of-bounds values) while monitoring the ECU responses with the ability to trigger actions when certain scenarios are detected. This provides important insights into the robustness of the ECU software and its functions.

 

Customizable Hardware-in-the-loop simulation based on proven in use harware and software products

Key features

  • Comprehensive solution that allows for integration of third-party software
  • Modeling tools that are based on industry standards
  • Replay of video data  (e.g. with EBX3 card: GMSL2/FPD3/GVIF) and all relevant vehicle bus communication data (e.g. with EBX3 card: 2.5 GBASE-T1, Automotive Ethernet, CAN/CAN-FD, Flexray, DSI3, GPS) synchronously with nanosecond precision
  • Scalable system and processing power that allows replay and processing of multiple sensor streams (e.g. for ADAS/AD, HMI)
  • Built with modular, proven-in-use hardware
  • “Precision and Correctness report” generated from a HiL-to-HiL hardware setup proofing the high-quality data replay for each data stream and the correlation between each other.
  • EB Assist ADTF3 development environment for configuration and extension of existing data replay features including security protocol support (E2E, SecOc, TLS/DTLS)
  • EB Assist Control: Orchestrate your HiLs scheduling reprocessing, HiL SW deployment or ECU SW flashing jobs
  • Manipulate signals of your input data on-the-fly for error injection and edge case testing
  • Visualization of input and output signals of the ECU to support testers in monitoring the test case execution and its result
  • Comprehensive driving scene database
  • Proven-in-use, host-based rest bus simulation which can be easily configured via JSON files (generated from our RBS Configurator using vehicle system description files (ARXML)
  • Support of latest AUTOSAR version

Use cases

  • Open-loop and closed-loop HiL (reinjection)

    From single-component tests to vehicle network testing to system tests for KPI calculations (e.g. ECU performance tests, object detection ratio and maturity)

    Error reproduction and verification of error corrections

    Pre-car integration of ECU SW by re-injecting input data (e.g. from test drives) against ECU SW release candidates

    Integration into CI/CT/CD tool chain for continuous qualification of the ECU SW using remote control (Assist Control)

    Capturing of ECU responses including debug data for either manual post processing or automated test case evaluation (via signal monitoring feature)

    Potential integration of customer components inside the HiL (e.g. for visualization or post-processing)

  • Rest bus simulation

    BroadR-Reach Ethernet

    Fully automated HiL system in cluster network (HiL farm)

    Data export for KPI calculation

  • Automated HiL system in a cluster network
  • Data export for calculating KPI
  • Recapturing of data

Further information on Elektrobit’s HiL solution and other automated driving solutions