Mechanical Simulation Corporation Facilitates Real Time Testing

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Mechanical Simulation Corporation’s CarSim® RT (real-time) testing software is the preferred software for a wide range of hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) suppliers. CarSim RT was the first comprehensive vehicle dynamics software that could run with more than a single RT system, and it is now being used worldwide by customers on all of the major RT systems.

CarSim is Mechanical Simulation’s software package for simulating the dynamic vehicle behavior of cars, light trucks and utility vehicles. CarSim animates simulated tests and generates over 500 output variables that can be plotted and analyzed. The vehicle and chassis settings can be optimized with any DOE (design of experiments) software. Engineers in design, development, testing and planning activities use CarSim. The math models run with a high efficiency, necessary for rapid simulation for the thousands of runs needed for DOE. The RT versions are slowed down to exactly match real-time in order to work properly with HIL (that usually has precise timing requirements).

CarSim RT serves as software-in-the-loop (SIL), contributing to the effectiveness of the hardware test procedures. CarSim runs on most computers faster than real-time; the program will obtain the necessary calculations from the model and wait for the clock to catch up. Precise timing is needed to communicate with electronic controllers, and is provided by the RT software running on a special RT operating system.

Live plotting and analysis options can be applied to the CarSim model, and all of the post-processing capabilities of CarSim will still operate. In addition, the RT program will support live animation of the vehicle during testing.

In addition to CarSim, RT testing is available on Mechanical Simulation’s TruckSim® and BikeSim® programs.

Mechanical Simulation provides the models available to run on the major RT operating systems, including the following:

  • A&D (Simulink and RT-Linux)
  • Applied Dynamics International (ADI) (Simulink with QNX)
  • dSPACE GmbH (Simulink with dSPACE OS)
  • ETAS (RTPC Linux and Simulink)
  • Fujitsu-TEN (Simulink and RT-Linux)
  • National Instruments (LabView RT and Simulink)
  • Opal-RT (Simulink with QNX or Redhawk Linux)
  • PhaseX (Bench Wizard)

Mechanical Simulation Corporation is a technology leader in the development and distribution of advanced software used to simulate vehicle performance under a wide variety of conditions. Established in 1996, its Ann Arbor, Mich., headquarters provides car, truck and motorcycle simulation packages, training and ongoing support to more than 20 OEMs, over 30 Tier 1 suppliers and more than 60 universities and government research groups worldwide. For more information, visit www.carsim.com.