A Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation System for Testing Electronic and Fuel Control Units of Gas Turbine Engines

Abstract

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation is an efficient, cost-effective, and repeatable testing approach for embedded systems. This paper presents an HIL simulation system for electronic control units (ECUs) and fuel control units (FCUs) of gas turbine engines for post-manufacturing functionality testing and anomaly detection before real-system testing. The system provides hardware-software interchangeability, allowing simulation software to compensate for missing hardware while preserving system consistency and integrity. It also enables error analysis of ECU sensor measurement channels to assess measurement reliability and support accuracy improvement. In addition, its deployability in both production and real-world environments represents an advance over previous HIL implementations.