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The figure below depicts the different forms in which a real-time simulator can be deployed as a fundamental element of the design of control algorithms. Modeling and control design environments, such as MATLAB, constitute the starting point of an RCP, HIL, or RTS strategy. RCP is an a hardware and software-based platform that allows quick testing and iterating control strategies on a real-time simulator with analog and digital IOs that acts as interfaces to a real-world physical system or plant to be controlled. RCP platforms typically provide a software-based tool to import and run the developed control and mathematical models into the real-time system.
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