Flight Control Surface Input Congruence System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Fly-by-wire aircraft systems experience delays in command transmission due to data bus architecture, leading to incongruent inputs and reduced performance, affecting fuel efficiency, noise levels, and passenger comfort.
Innovation Solution
A data bus system with actuator control modules and flight control modules that determine and manage errors in command transmission, using point-to-point connections and majority voting to ensure timely and congruent commands for flight control surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a data bus architecture is used to reduce wiring between components, then device complexity is reduced, but command transmission delays occur leading to degraded performance
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by predicting the desired position of flight control surfaces ahead of time and sending these predicted position commands through the data bus in advance. This allows the actuator control module to have commands ready before they are actually needed, compensating for the inherent data bus transmission delays and maintaining timely response performance while still using the simplified data bus architecture.
2Reliability
If multiple flight control modules generate commands simultaneously, then redundancy is improved, but command congruency deteriorates due to timing differences
Solution Approach 1:
The actuator control module receives feedback from multiple flight control modules regarding their generated commands. By monitoring these commands and their timing, the system can identify and correct incongruent commands, ensuring that all redundant flight control modules produce consistent, congruent output commands despite generating them simultaneously. This feedback mechanism maintains both redundancy and command congruency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the timing parameter of command generation by using predicted position calculations that account for expected delays. By adjusting when commands are generated and sent based on predicted needs, the system ensures that commands from multiple redundant modules arrive congruently at the actuator control module, resolving the timing inconsistency issue while maintaining redundancy.
3Loss of energy
If command transmission delays occur in the fly-by-wire system, then fuel efficiency deteriorates, but reducing delays increases system complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The system calculates predicted positions of flight control surfaces in advance and sends these commands through the data bus before they are actually needed. This preliminary action eliminates transmission delays that would otherwise cause inefficient engine responses and suboptimal flight performance, improving fuel efficiency without adding significant system complexity since the prediction logic builds upon existing flight control computations.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and apparatus for controlling flight control surfaces on an aircraft. Commands are sent onto a data bus system (208) from flight control modules (212). The flight control modules (212) and actuator control modules (210) determine whether an error is present in the commands sent onto the data bus system (208). Point-to-point connections between the flight control modules (214) and the actuator control modules (210) are managed based on whether the error is present in the commands sent onto the data bus system (208).