Hardware-in-the-loop simulation for real-time software verification of an autonomous underwater robot

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a software engineering procedure for real-time software development and verification of an autonomous underwater robotic system. High performance and robust software are one of the requirements of autonomous systems design. A simple error in the software can easily lead to a catastrophic failure in a complex system. Then, a systematic procedure is presented for this purpose. Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilizes software engineering tools and hardware-inthe-loop (HIL) simulations for real-time system design of an autonomous underwater robot. Findings: In this paper, the architecture of the system is extracted. Then, using software engineering techniques a suitable structure for control software is presented. Considering the desirable targets of the robot, suitable algorithms and functions are developed. After the development stage, proving the real-time performance of the software is disclosed. Originality/value: A suitable approach for analyzing the real-time performance is presented. This approach is implemented using HIL simulations. The developed structure is applicable to other autonomous systems.