Not everything is about design

Most of the posts of this blog (including the name) is about how to design an algorithm so that a particular action, typcially a control, can be perform. We have talked in the past about advanced control algorithms and, while control design is fun, we must also talk about how to test and validate those algorithms that we are designing.

While we work on our control problem we work with simulation tools, right? Nowadays simulation is cheap and fast. But one can't always work only with simulations on a computer and need to test embedded devices (where the algorithm is going to run) against something that behaves like the system is being control. Let's make an example. If someone is designing a control algorithm for a cruise control, you "might" want to test it first on a simulated car rather than on a real one, just in case the algorithm is not working as expected.

Here is where some of the "XiL" (Model in the Loop, Hardware in the Loop, Processor in the Loop, Software in the loop.....) come into place. The main idea is to run some or all of the compements of our embedded system in a simulated environment so that we can safely test it.

Here is a video from my colleage Chris Washington explaining more in detail what Hardware in the loop is



Have fun!