Development of Hardware Driver for MATLAB/Simulink Real-Time Simulation

Real-Time Simulation, for example hardware-in-the- loop simulation(HILS), is an effective method for studying complex system, and the MATLAB/ Simulink/Real-Time Windows Target (RTWT) toolbox provides a cheap platform for such work, but the application is greatly limited due to lack of enough hardware drivers. Based on the kernel provided by MATLAB/Simulink/RTWT toolbox, this paper studied some key issues on developing drivers for unsupported computer I/O devices. Firstly, the Frame of real-time simulation with RTWT and principle of the drivers were examined. Secondly, solutions were put forward targeting the key issues of registers access and base address lookup, and drivers were developed for PCI-8360A. Finally, tests were conducted on two computers respectively, and result showed that the drives with seven channels A/D conversion could achieve 10 kHz sample rate while the signals could be visualized in real time, and the developed drivers were successfully used in HILS for a steering system, which indicates the solutions are effective and the drivers are steady and portable.