Hardware in-the-loop simulation-a rapid prototyping approach for designing mechatronics systems

Presents a rapid prototyping approach for the design and verification of mechatronics systems. We show the need for rapid prototyping the information processing part to perform hardware-in-the-loop simulation due to the limited modeling capability of mechanical processes. We propose the use of a graphical environment based on dataflow graphs to capture suitable algorithms. Through automatic extraction of C code targeting commercial digital signal processors and hardware-in-the-loop simulation, shorter turn-around cycles can be achieved. Furthermore, FPGA emulation or ASIC design can be started from the same dataflow graph which has already been validated, yielding improved confidence in and efficiency of the design flow. A real-world design example shows the feasibility of this approach for handling the complexity and heterogeneity of many algorithms found in mechatronics applications