x-ray pulsar-based navigation uses natural objects, the neutron star, in space as the navigation signal source. the advantages of the method are navigation information is complete, and the reliability and autonomy are high. it is a research hot spot at present both at home and abroad. as a result of the x-ray signal from the pulsars is very weak, it cannot penetrate the thickset atmosphere. in order to validate the pulsar navigation algorithms closer to the real conditions on ground, the special hardware in-loop system should be used to do the experiments. this paper adopted the system “tianshu-ii” which is developed by national university of defense technology and xi’an institute of optics and precision mechanics research institute. a series of x-ray pulsar-based navigation experiments are carried out. experimental results show that the algorithms are reliable. they are verified to be effective in the hardware-in-the-loop simulation. © springer nature singapore pte ltd. 2017.