A New Architecture for Automotive Hardware-in-the-Loop Test

As automotive electronic system design evolves, so must the HiL testbench and automotive test platforms. the fundamental functional design approach has been modular and ECU-centric, but the ECU count has steadily increased. the next big shift is to achieve functionality through the integration of multiple ECUs. Audi is responding to these challenges by radically re-thinking the architecture of the HiL test platform and defining a next generation approach. the new approach introduces the concept of a HiL-Bus to integrate the functionality of multiple existing HiL sub-systems and meet the needs of a modular best-in-class test ecosystem. By using a data-oriented approach the complexity of the testbench is reduced making it easier to integrate hardware and software products from different vendors. one of the enabling technologies (Connext DDS) is developed by Real-Time Innovations Inc.