Abstract

Analyzing the system behavior and performance of a system by bench testing and simulation is an essential part of product development. Bench tests are expensive and time-consuming. Simulations can be carried out more quickly and at lower costs than bench tests. However, it is often unclear how well the reality of an actuator on a test bench is represented with a simulation. To increase the simulation confidence, the results of a simulation are usually validated on a test bench. If the system behavior in the simulation deviates from the system behavior on the test bench, iterations must be performed and the simulation must be adjusted if necessary. The test planning, test execution, and test evaluation are often carried out separately for simulation and bench testing, with the results in each iteration being used for further test planning. This results in a high effort for the test planning, test execution, and test evaluation activities by the test engineer. An approach to connect and automate test planning, test execution, and test evaluation is automated testing. It is unclear how automated testing is suitable for both bench tests and simulations and whether it reduces the test engineer?s effort. Therefore, this paper aims to present an approach to automated testing which plans, executes, and evaluates both simulations and bench tests automatically to solve an optimization problem with reduced effort. Based on an evaluation of the bench test and simulation results, new bench tests or simulations are automatically planned and executed. The main purpose of the simulation is to generate knowledge through a broad analysis of the system parameters, while the main purpose of bench tests is to validate the individual simulation results. Furthermore, it is possible for the algorithm to automatically improve the simulation by changing individual previously defined parameters based on the test bench data. To illustrate the application of the approach, a case for optimization of a position controller of an electro-hydraulic actuator using particle swarm optimization is presented. The evaluation of the system behavior for the investigated electrohydraulic actuator is done via the position curve and the integral of time multiplied by square error. A comparison of the number of user interactions and simulations performed with the presented approach to automated testing compared to a classical approach with DOE shows a reduction of the test engineer's effort. The presented approach enables automated testing that plans, executes and evaluates both simulations and bench tests. Thus, simulation confidence can be increased compared to pure simulations by automated validation. In addition, the simulation can be improved based on test bench results.