A Real-Time Test and Simulation Environment Based on Standard FPGA Hardware

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) testing can be veryexpensive because of the high acquisition costs of the requiredhard- and software. In this paper an alternative low-costrealisation for building up a HiL Testing system is introduced.This solution is based on a standard FPGA together with anormal desktop personal computer (PC). It will be shown thatalmost all of the required features of a HiL Testing system canbe fulfilled. Furthermore, an evaluation between existing HiLsolutions and the presented low-cost solution is given whichshows that the FPGA-PC solution fulfills all requirements forcomponent tests. In conclusion, the FPGA-PC HiL solution iswell suited for component tests for electronic control units.