Bridging worlds: Integrating hardware-in-the-loop testing with large-scale VANET simulation

Modern vehicle systems are becoming more complex with every generation and development cycles are becoming ever shorter. Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation is used as a key technology as it supports the development of specialized Electronic Control Units (ECUs) under realistic and reproducible conditions. It allows hardware prototypes to be tested with all of the rest of the car's functionality being simulated in real-time. At the same time, Car-to-X (C2X) communication is becoming a more and more vital component for next generation vehicles. Here, network simulation is used to explore the capabilities of the system — typically using a discrete event simulation approach. In this paper, we discuss the necessity to integrate simulators from both domains in order to assess complex interacting cooperative driving systems. In particular, we propose an approach for integration which we named Ego-Vehicle Interface (EVI) and we show first results that underline the feasibility of our concept.