Opal-RT's RT-Events blockset works with Simulink to improve the accuracy of fixed-time-step simulations commonly used in real-time and hardware-in-the-loop applications. Its accuracy approaches that of variable-time-step simulation, but can run hundreds of times faster without significant accuracy loss. It works by compensating for errors induced when a comparator's output changes between time steps.

These errors become cumulative when the signal flows into a resetting integrator. The frequency of the integrator is lower than the true frequency. In typical HIL applications, this error can be confused with instability of the system, but is completely eliminated with RT-Events.

Founded in 1997, the company is based in Montreal. Its customers include Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Peugeot, as well as several automotive suppliers, universities, and government research labs. Opal-RT developed RT-Events for Ford Research Laboratory. In applications such as ignition systems, sparks may occur between time steps in a fixed time-step mode. With RT-Events' innovative integration techniques, the event is captured while maintaining the fixed time-step simulation. The product enables coupling between discrete and continuous systems, as well as the implementation of control algorithms with dynamically adjusted sample times.

The company plans to open an office in Ann Arbor, MI, solely for automotive business. Jean Belanger, President and co-founder of Opal-RT, said during a Convergence 2000 press conference that it is more difficult to simulate a car than an airplane. With Mechanical Simulation Corp. and Global Electronics Ltd., the company can simulate the entire vehicle, according to Belanger.