HARDWARE-IN-THE-LOOP SIMULATION OF AN INTERCONNECTED INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM OF A GROUND OBJECT

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is creation of an efficient software and hardware model of a ground mobile object navigation system. Simulation process is one of the key instruments for engineering solutions development at all stages of a complex technical system lifecycle. Navigation system model described in this paper is software-hardware by nature and is implemented as software modules that support hardware interaction with each other. The described system of ground object navigation system simulation has been developed in the course of several design projects and scientific research works. The developed model of a ground mobile object navigation system includes several programming units. Each of these units simulates the operation process as close as possible to the original. Internal and external interaction interfaces and navigation system communication protocols are also simulated with the account for real object operation cyclograms. It should be noted that one of the main advantages of a software simulation over a developmental testing or breadboarding is the opportunity to perform a profound analysis of operation algorithms without the use of any additional resources. At the same time, it is often necessary to perform firmware design in order to make the simulation process identical with the real operation. The process of navigation system architecture simulation allows performing a comparative analysis of several base components sets and their interaction patterns. Such comparison results in an optimal system structure providing the information user with navigation data in the most efficient way. The paper determines basic simulation process tasks. The simulation stage may become crucial for complex systems design as it may aid achieving the best technical result. The proposed structure, key elements of a ground navigation simulation system and approaches to their interaction arrangement have been approved in the course of several research and development works. At the same time, it was found that the validity of developed models and their compliance to simulated units allows performing a highly reliable navigation system analysis. The developed software-hardware model allowed processing telemetry records obtained under different product operation conditions, performing their analysis and developing engineering solutions that increase the efficiency of navigation systems.