A micro Hardware-In-the-Loop test system

Automotive companies commonly adopt Hardware-In-the-Loop simulators to develop new control strategies in order to reduce the effort and the cost of the testing phase. The engine management system is an important component of actual road vehicles, it has a vital impact on fuel economy and reduced emissions. Engine developer want to run the ECU while monitoring its internal state through special programs, after changing part of ECU code or tables in it, to make sure that every functionality is correct. This work aims at presenting a portable electronic system, suited for HIL simulations and non-regression test. The performances of the proposed electronic device, named Micro Hardware-In-the-Loop system are finally presented through the testing of the engine management system software of 1.4 liter Fiat SI engine, showing suitable simplicity and good portability.