Can the HIL be Healed ?

TSMaster HIL – Product Overview

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing, while not “sick,” can often be cumbersome and expensive to implement effectively. The challenge lies in building an efficient, real-time, scalable, and affordable HIL solution that meets the demanding requirements of modern embedded systems, particularly in the automotive sector. Enter TSMaster by TOSUN, represented in Israel by TrigoPi onboard. With more than 20,000 downloads and usage by over 5,000 companies, TSMaster has become a leading software suite that supports analysis, simulation, calibration, and testing aligned with the V-model development process.

TSMaster is designed for professionals seeking powerful yet cost-effective HIL solutions. It supports many automotive de-facto standard bus tools and lab instruments, enabling comprehensive testing and calibration workflows. Its real-time capabilities and extensibility make it suitable for a wide range of applications from algorithm development to vehicle dynamics simulation.

Illustration representing the healing or improvement of HIL testing with TSMaster
Figure 1: Conceptual illustration of improving HIL testing efficiency with TSMaster.

Technical Highlights

TSMaster supports a broad range of automotive bus tools including Kvaser, PEAK, Vector, ICS, and ZLG interfaces. It covers communication protocols such as CAN/FD, LIN, J1939, FlexRay, and Ethernet T1, offering extensive flexibility for embedded system testing. This wide protocol support ensures integration with existing vehicle networks and test benches.

Beyond bus communication, TSMaster integrates with various lab instruments such as oscilloscopes, waveform generators, and digital multimeters, facilitating synchronized measurement and control. It also supports hardware boards for digital input/output operations, enhancing the scope of real-time hardware interfacing.

One of TSMaster’s unique features is its capability to synchronize video playback with bus traffic playback or any other external signals, essential for testing multimedia and driver assistance systems. It supports common video formats like MP4, AVI, and WMV, enabling detailed scenario visualization alongside data analysis.

TSMaster interface showing bus traffic analysis
Figure 2: TSMaster’s bus traffic analysis interface supporting multiple automotive protocols.

Integration & Applications

TSMaster is particularly valuable for algorithm developers and data scientists, offering support for Matlab Simulink co-simulation and Carsim integration. This allows seamless co-simulation of control algorithms with vehicle dynamic models, enabling soft real-time HIL simulations that closely mimic real vehicle behavior.

In electric vehicle calibration, TSMaster enables precise tuning of powertrain components and battery management systems. The software’s real-time capabilities facilitate closed-loop testing of control units under various simulated driving conditions, reducing physical prototype costs and accelerating development cycles.

Calibration of electric motorcycle using TSMaster
Figure 3: Electric motorcycle calibration using TSMaster’s real-time simulation and testing.

Additionally, TSMaster’s synchronization of video and bus data playback supports validation of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and infotainment systems. Engineers can replay recorded scenarios with precise timing alignment between sensor data and video streams, improving debugging and validation efficiency.

EV video synchronized playback in TSMaster
Figure 4: Video synchronized playback with bus data in TSMaster for electric vehicle testing.

Variants & Support

TSMaster’s modular architecture supports embedded code generation in C and scripting with Python, enabling customization and automation of test sequences. It also includes graphic support for visualizing test results and system states, enhancing interpretability for engineers.

The suite facilitates logging and playback of test data, bus simulation, CCP/XCP calibration, and UDS diagnostics, covering the full spectrum of automotive ECU development and validation needs. This comprehensive toolset supports compliance with automotive standards and functional safety requirements.

Key Benefits

  • Broad support for automotive bus tools and protocols (Kvaser, PEAK, Vector, ICS, ZLG; CAN/FD, LIN, J1939, FlexRay, Ethernet T1)
  • Integration with lab instruments and hardware boards for versatile real-time testing
  • Video playback synchronized with bus traffic for multimedia and ADAS validation
  • Co-simulation support with Matlab Simulink and Carsim for advanced algorithm development
  • Embedded code generation and scripting for customization and automation
  • Logging, playback, bus simulation, CCP/XCP calibration, and UDS diagnostics for comprehensive ECU testing
  • Affordable pricing with proven adoption by thousands of companies worldwide

Implementation Tips

  • Leverage TSMaster’s protocol and instrument support to unify diverse testing workflows and reduce integration complexity.
  • Use video synchronization features to correlate sensor data with visual events, improving debugging accuracy.
  • Integrate Matlab Simulink models early in development to accelerate algorithm validation and reduce errors.
  • Employ fault injection and diagnostic capabilities within TSMaster to validate safety mechanisms and compliance with standards.
  • Plan for scalable test setups by modularly adding hardware interfaces and expanding bus tool support as project complexity grows.
  • Utilize scripting and embedded code generation to automate repetitive test cases and enable continuous integration workflows.

Safety & Reliability Notes

TSMaster supports rigorous testing methodologies essential for developing safety-critical automotive systems. Its capabilities for fault injection, diagnostic communication, and calibration ensure that embedded controllers meet functional safety standards such as ISO 26262. Engineers should carefully validate model fidelity and real-time synchronization to avoid masking timing-related faults or integration issues. Comprehensive logging and traceability features aid in compliance documentation and root-cause analysis.

Conclusion & Call to Action

While traditional HIL setups can be cumbersome and costly, TSMaster offers a powerful, affordable, and scalable alternative that “heals” the challenges of HIL testing. Its extensive protocol support, real-time simulation capabilities, and integration with industry-standard tools make it an excellent choice for automotive and embedded systems engineers seeking to accelerate development and improve test coverage. We refined this approach at TrigoPi in real projects—reach out if you’d like to see how it applies to your case. Discover how TSMaster can enhance your HIL workflows and drive efficient, reliable embedded system validation.

References

  • https://www.aptiv.com/en/insights/article/what-is-hardware-in-the-loop-testing
  • https://www.opal-rt.com/blog/10-hardware-in-the-loop-testing-applications-that-matter-to-power-engineers-in-2025/
  • https://www.ni.com/en/solutions/transportation/hardware-in-the-loop/hardware-in-the-loop–hil–test-system-architectures.html
  • https://www.mathworks.com/discovery/hardware-in-the-loop-hil.html
  • https://www.opal-rt.com/blog/a-guide-to-hardware-in-the-loop-testing-in-2025/
  • https://www.typhoon-hil.com/community/our-difference/real-time-simulation-and-testing/
  • https://www.keentelengineering.com/hil-simulation-simulink-real-time-control-testing
  • https://www.genuen.com/blog/achieve-low-latency-real-time-distributed-test-execution-genuen
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