A printing device having a heating apparatus arranged to heat an image substrate, a temperature sensor associated with the image substrate, and a processor communicatively coupled to the heating apparatus. During a simulation mode of the printing device, the processor determines the heating power of the heating apparatus, predicts a temperature of the image substrate based on the heating power, compares the predicted temperature to a measured temperature of the image substrate by the temperature sensor, determines a calibration offset when the measured temperature deviates from the predicted temperature, and selectively generates a control signal for use in calibrating the temperature sensor based on the calibration offset.