Hardware in the loop simulation is also known as HIL.

It consists of using a simulator to emulate the inputs into a system and feeding those inputs into an embedded system. The outputs from the embedded system are then fed into a visualizer.

In our case, X-Plane (www.x-plane.org) can provide emulated gyro, accelerometer, gps, etc inputs which we could theoretically pass into the UAVP. The UAVP could then process the sensor data and send the outputs back to X-Plane for visualization.

To do this we would need:

• An X-Plane model that represents the UAVP in the flight simulator. This has to mirror the quad in terms of aerodynamic features, etc.
• A plugin for X-Plane to retrieve virtual sensor readings and format them for consumption on the UAVP.
• A way to feed the fake sensor readings into the UAVP.
• A way to feed the servo outputs from the UAVP back into the computer.
• An X-Plane plugin to convert the output from the UAVP into virtual motor movements in the simulator.

If all of this is setup properly it would allow us to test most firmware modifications in a virtual environment first without having to risk actual physical damage. The better the simulation the less real world testing would need to be done.

There is also a free flight simulator that is used to do this called Flight Gear (www.flightgear.org), but I have not had much luck in finding documentation on how to do HIL simulation with it.

Does anyone else think this would be a good thing to pursue? Is anyone else interested in working on making this a reality?