  This paper presents the setup for empirical validations of the Pair-based
Analytical model for Segmented Telescope Imaging from Space (PASTIS)
tolerancing model for segmented coronagraphy. We show the hardware
configuration of the High-contrast imager for Complex Aperture Telescopes
(HiCAT) testbed on which these experiments will be conducted at an intermediate
contrast regime between $10^{-6}$ and $10^{-8}$. We describe the optical
performance of the testbed with a classical Lyot coronagraph and describe the
recent hardware upgrade to a segmented mode, using an IrisAO segmented
deformable mirror. Implementing experiments on HiCAT is made easy through its
top-level control infrastructure that uses the same code base to run on the
real testbed, or to invoke the optical simulator. The experiments presented in
this paper are run on the HiCAT testbed emulator, which makes them ready to be
performed on actual hardware. We show results of three experiments with results
from the emulator, with the goal to demonstrate PASTIS on hardware next. We
measure the testbed PASTIS matrix, and validate the PASTIS analytical
propagation model by comparing its contrast predictions to simulator results.
We perform the tolerancing analysis on the optical eigenmodes (PASTIS modes)
and on independent segments, then validate these results in respective
experiments. This work prepares and enables the experimental validation of the
analytical segment-based tolerancing model for segmented aperture coronagraphy
with the specific application to the HiCAT testbed.
