Model-based software validation for automotive control systems

Virtual hardware-in-the-loop simulation (VHILS) simulation was proposed to validate real-time control software. The VHILS simulator integrated entire mechatronic control systems and dealt with multiple technology domains of mechanical, electronic, control and software. A processor simulator ran control software codes in binary format and analyzed accurately their real-time behavior. The VHILS concept was applied to an automotive adaptive cruise control system (ACCS), and driver maneuvering, vehicle dynamics, micro controller operation and CAN communication were modeled. The modeling efficiency of the serial data communication and the data exchange between the CAN model and the multi-domain simulation were identified as the primarily causes of longer computational time. By carefully designing the simulator interface and the CAN model, we successfully built a VHILS for the ACCS that agreed accurately with experimental results and yielded a practical turn-around time.