KAI (Automotive and Industrial Electronics Competence Center), a subsidiary of Infineon Technologies Austria AG, is a well-established R&D center based in Villach, Austria, with multiple projects from vehicles’ power electronics reliability testing to statistical lifetime modeling.

KAI set out to develop a specialized Power Distribution Test Bench (PDT) capable of emulating a vehicle’s complete power harness under varying loads, faults, and switching conditions. Achieving this required extensive system- and component-level validation and thousands of lines of custom code. This approach would have resulted in long development cycles, heavy manual effort, and slow iteration—an obstacle for a project intended to support fast-paced automotive research.

To stay on schedule and meet research goals, KAI needed a development and testing environment that could accelerate iteration, reduce coding workload, and ensure comprehensive testing coverage without relying on costly real hardware for every scenario.

Drawing on prior experience with Speedgoat test systems and MATLAB^® Simulink^®-based workflows, Andreas Warmuth, BSc MSc, introduced a model-based design (MBD) development and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) strategy for the project, known as HYDRA (Highly Dynamic Rig for Automotive Switches) PDT.

A proof of concept quickly showed that Speedgoat’s ready-to-use real-time test systems and seamless MATLAB Simulink integration could drastically shorten the development timeline and time to market. The team implemented a two-path development workflow that enabled:

- Parallel system-level and device-under-test (DUT) HIL testing

- Centralized load control and scenario generation

- Direct execution of Simulink models on Speedgoat test systems without HDL coding

A GUI built in Simulink on a host PC connects directly to the Speedgoat real-time target machine, allowing automated execution of a wide range of tests—including hard short circuits, supply failures, overvoltages, and intermittent faults.

Speedgoat’s flexible and ready-to-use HDL Coder^™ workflow integration empowered the team to run high-fidelity switching patterns directly on the FPGA with deterministic processing steps on the order of 10 nanoseconds. Real-time emulation of system elements reduced reliance on physical prototypes and eliminated the need to manually write or maintain hardware description language (HDL) code.

This unified workflow enabled fast transitions from simulation to hardware emulation and testing and provided full control of all test scenarios in a single environment.

As a result, the HYDRA system became the first known PDT capable of fully emulating a vehicle’s entire power harness with dynamically varying loads and conditions.

By integrating Speedgoat’s real-time test systems and Simulink-Programmable FPGA workflows, KAI achieved:

- Six months saved, reducing development time by 50%

- Higher test coverage through concurrent component- and system-level HIL testing

- Reduced hardware costs by replacing physical harness testing with real-time emulation

- Improved safety, enabling fault injection and edge-case testing without risking components

“I can automatically synthesize my model and run it onto the hardware. That’s the mightiness of this workflow with Speedgoat. You simulate it in MATLAB^® Simulink^®, then with a few clicks, you can execute it on hardware,” says Andreas.

By using Speedgoat test systems to simultaneously conduct HIL simulation (allowing for concurrent component and system-level testing) as well as harnessing the no-code solutions and integrations, KAI was able to drive towards its project finish line at industry-leading rates. This level of accuracy, at this speed, would otherwise take up to a year to achieve; now, KAI’s implementation of these tools has shown that previously lengthy development cycles can be achieved in a matter of months with modern software.

As the automotive industry accelerates toward Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and Electric Vehicles (EVs), the HYDRA platform gives KAI a significant research advantage. The Speedgoat workflow continues to support new testing scenarios and development activities, enabling KAI to execute complex tests quickly and consistently.