I have some new control laws that I wanted to check out with a hardware in the loop test. I note from the online notes ( HITL Simulators — Dev documentation (ardupilot.org) ) that this is no longer supported, but also see in the forums that there was (on some low? level) an effort to reinstate it. My question is - if it is no longer supported, does this mean that 1) it simply cannot be done or 2) it can be done and I am on my own to sort it out. I am hoping for 2), but wanted to check with this community prior to attempting it. I have ArduPlane 4.0.9 currently installed on the autopilot.
Thanks Charlie, but I would like to have everything tested - this is a new configuration. My plan was SITL first, then as step 2 HITL. Do you know if this step 2 is possible?
I fully understand your point. It would be nice to have a way to test your flight controller as if in a real world situation. But I also understand the complexity of integrating this into mission planner. I’m a hardware engineer and have close to zero knowledge on software.
When we test something new, we follow strict procedures to minimize the risks by doing static tests, dynamic tests, flight test, etc.
But yes, there is a possibility of failure and crash.
Sorry to revive an old topic but this still comes up when googling for HIL in ardupilot.
Our situation means that we want to test Ardupilot with a simulation we have developed. A large number of users will be testing their work on windows machines using our own simulations. The process of setting up these machines for SITL will take too long. It would be much easier to have Arudpilot respond to appropriate MAVLink messages sent over a serial connection to the physical device.