Principles and application of the real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform based on multi-thread and CAN

This paper introduces the principles, construction and application of a novel real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulation (RT-HILS) platform. The RT-HILS consist of a PC to display the simulation result and calculate the model, a HIL board to generate the analogue signals and measure the output of the target ECU, and a USB-CAN card to implement CAN (Controller Area Network) communication. Multi-thread technology is used to control the models’ calculation step to guarantee its real-time characteristics. The CAN with the speed of 500Kbit/s is also important to real time simulation. The models and communication functions are cooperated into the LabView by its DLL node. The RT-HILS platform has applied to the diesel engine controller and hybrid vehicle controller. An example of the application of RT-HILS to the development of HCU (Hybrid Control Unit) is presented to show the functions of RT-HILS.