Hardware-in-the-loop Emulation of a Control and Longitudinal Compensation System of a Submarine

Naval machinery is designed to ensure proper operation of a ship and includes pumps, compressors, tanks, piping and other equipment. In modern vessels, the operation of this equipment is automated through Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). In general, the development of PLC control software takes place in parallel with the mechanical construction of the vessels, so that integration tests are performed only at the time of commissioning. In order to reduce the risks associated with integration, the tests are performed by comparing the control software against a real-time simulator of the plant to be controlled. The contribution of this work is the development of a commissioning solution for the longitudinal compensation system of a submarine-based in a virtual simulation environment called Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL). A HIL simulation refers to a system in which parts of a pure simulation have been replaced with actual physical components. The results were considered satisfactory since the test platform allowed the early identification of errors in the PLC software, tests of different control strategies and finally the possibility of the use for the purpose of operator training.