Validation of an electronic control unit by a hardware-in-the-loop system

Nowadays electronics and software are more and more important in all areas of everyday life. This trend can clearly be seen in mechatronics, automotive, and aerospace applications, but also in medical engineering, robotics, and home entertainment. Considering automotive field, today a car includes up to 100 ECUs that are all connected each other and communicate with other vehicles and infrastructures. Therefore, it becomes more and more challenging to develop and test vehicle ECUs in this complex network. For this reason, hardware-in-the-loop technology (HIL) has become an important aspect during the electronics development process of a vehicle, crucial for testing single ECU and ECU networks. HIL is used to test complex real-time embedded systems through test benches. These last reproduce physically and by software the system to be tested, and the coexistence of real and simulated elements is precisely the main characteristic of the HIL process. Both the environment on which the system works, and components of the system can be replicated virtually, obtaining different advantages: saving of development costs and time and the possibility to replicate dangerous tests and tests impossible to be reproduced by real. In this thesis, a HIL process has been implemented to validate an ECU installed in telehandlers produced by Merlo SPA industry. All the functions of the ECU have been tested, simulating in real time different working conditions, and checking that everything behaved as expected. Particular attention has been given to the algorithm of stability and relative problem of overturning of the machine, situation that could be very dangerous for both the operator and the machine. All the process has been done using hardware and software of National Instruments (PXI, VeriStand and Stimulus Profile Editor) and MathWorks (MATLAB and Simulink), reproducing the algorithm described in the technical specifications, giving all the needed stimulus as inputs and comparing the outputs of the model with the functioning of the ECU. The results have confirmed the efficiency of the method applied, it has been possible to identify some anomalies and differences between the technical specifications and the behaviour of the software and thanks to that, it has been possible to update the specifications accordingly. At the same time, working conditions otherwise very difficult to be replicated on the real machine have been simulated. The outcome of this work will be used in the future to validate the next release of the ECU assuring the full compatibility, so the possibility to use it as replacement, with the previous version and giving the capability to the company to provide the spare parts in the next years.