Hardware-Dependent Software Simulation via Substitute Functions
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Solution Overview
Problem
The simulation of technical systems, particularly controllers, faces challenges due to hardware-dependent software components that are not accurately recreated in simulation environments, leading to discrepancies between real and simulated systems, and existing solutions are costly and complex, requiring manual intervention and high computational demands.
Innovation Solution
A method to automatically identify hardware-dependent software components in the operating software, replace them with hardware-independent substitute functions, and execute these in a simulation environment, allowing for precise recreation of technical effects without interacting with real hardware, thereby enabling cost-effective and automated simulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hardware-dependent software components are simulated using standard simulation environments, then simulation capability is provided, but simulation precision deteriorates due to inability to accurately recreate hardware interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a binary copy of the original operating software and modifies it to replace hardware-dependent functions with substitute functions. This copying approach allows the simulation to run without the original hardware while maintaining functional equivalence, thereby resolving the contradiction between providing simulation capability and achieving simulation precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces substitute functions as intermediaries between the operating software and the simulation environment. These substitute functions act as mediators that replicate hardware interactions without requiring actual hardware, enabling accurate simulation of hardware-dependent software components in a hardware-independent manner.
2Adaptability or versatility
If hardware-dependent software components are removed and recreated using standardized hardware or rapid control prototyping, then hardware independence is achieved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts hardware-dependent functions from the operating software and replaces them with substitute functions that do not require actual hardware. This extraction approach achieves hardware independence while avoiding the complexity of standardized hardware replacements or rapid control prototyping systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes physical hardware interactions with software-based substitute functions. Instead of using mechanical or physical hardware systems (standardized hardware, RCP), the solution replaces them with virtual software functions that simulate hardware behavior, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining hardware independence.
3Measurement precision
If manual intervention by development engineers is used to identify and replace hardware-dependent software components, then identification accuracy improves, but productivity decreases due to time-consuming manual processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements an automated process where the system itself identifies and replaces hardware-dependent software components without requiring manual intervention. The automated analysis and modification process maintains identification accuracy while dramatically improving productivity by eliminating time-consuming manual engineering steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameters of the software modification process from manual to automated. By transforming the identification and replacement process into an automated computational task, the system maintains accuracy through systematic analysis while achieving high productivity through elimination of human intervention.
4Reliability
If simulation or emulation of hardware is used to handle hardware-dependent functions, then hardware interaction is preserved, but use of energy and computational power increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses lightweight substitute functions that consume minimal computational resources compared to full hardware simulation or emulation. These substitute functions provide the necessary hardware interaction fidelity for software testing without the high computational overhead of emulating actual hardware behavior, thereby reducing energy and computational power consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
According to the invention, the operating software 10 of a technical system, particularly of a controller for controlling or regulating at least one technical device, is modified by virtue of hardware-dependent software components in the operating software 10 executable directly on the technical system not being executed and instead the functional behavior of the hardware-dependent software components being recreated by substitute functions 23. To this end, the hardware-dependent software components are automatically identified (step S1), and the substitute functions 23 are automatically ascertained or produced. On execution in a suitable simulation environment 200 (step S3), the operating software 20 modified in this way simulates the technical system independently of the real hardware 100 thereof.