Rapid development of reliable embedded systems

At TTE Systems we specialise in the development of deeply-embedded applications, including automotive systems, aerospace system, medical devices, factory automation, and many other areas. In such designs, the system under development must often interact with other equipment (for example, the vehicle wheel in an automotive braking design) and / or with a user (for example, taking measurements from a patient in an ECG monitoring system) in a manner which can make it very difficult and / or dangerous to test and debug the system. When developing such systems, a “hardware-in-the-loop” (HIL) testbed is often a key part of the development environment.

We can provide a wide range of specialised “Hardware-in-the-Loop” testbeds. Such testbeds are typically used during product development and testing and / or as a means of performing product demonstrations to customers.

We provide further information about various testbeds (including the RapidiTTy™ Adaptive Cruise Control Test Facility) on this page.

For further information about any of our testbeds, please contact us.

What is HIL simulation?

The use of HIL simulation with an embedded control system is illustrated in the figure below (figure by Dr. Michael Short, Embedded Systems Laboratory, University of Leicester). The embedded system outputs are fed directly to the simulation, where they are sampled and used as input variables. A dynamic simulation model, acting on these input variables, is evaluated (normally in real-time, but this is not always the case). The outputs from the simulation are synthesised from the dynamic model(s): these are then fed back into the system under test as outputs, thereby closing the control loop.

HIL simulations of this nature have been used successfully in a variety of applications, including verification of new machine tool designs, aircraft autopilot system design, numerous military applications and testing of automotive ECUs.

RapidiTTy™ Adaptive Cruise-Control Test Facility

One example of a testbed from TTE Systems is the RapidiTTy™ Adaptive Cruise-Control Test Facility, which is illustrated below.

For further information about the RapidiTTy™ Adaptive Cruise Control Test Facility (including pricing), please refer to the product page.

RapidiTTy™ HIL

Another example of a testbed from TTE Systems is the RapidiTTy™ HIL Test Facility, which is illustrated below.

Further information about this new test facility will be available shortly.

Custom testbeds

We can provide a range of custom testbeds, such as the driving simulator illustrated below.

For further information, please visit our custom design page.

Laboratory testbeds

At TTE Systems, we have developed a number of detailed code examples and demonstration systems which can be used to support the teaching of embedded systems using hardware testbeds. The examples are designed to work with cost-effective, off-the-shelf training equipment (equipment which many universities and colleges already own).

For further information, please visit our laboratory testbeds page.