A study was conducted to design an experimental flight test program for the Total In-Flight Simulator CTIFS) directed toward the interface between flying qualities requirements and flight control system design criteria. The eventual goal is to provide an interpretation or translation of flying qualities requirements for use by the flight control system designer. Specifically, an angle of attack and pitch rate command system matrix involving both short term and long term dynamics are specified for evaluation. A major objective of the research was to demonstrate that flying qualities criteria and flight control system configuration or architecture can be independent. Finally, additional configurations are proposed to evaluate the efficacy of dynamic decoupling.

This book provides a single comprehensive resource that reviews many of the current aircraft flight control programmes from the perspective of experienced practitioners directly involved in the projects. Each chapter discusses a specific aircraft flight programme covering the control system design considerations, control law architecture, simulation and analysis, flight test optimization and handling qualities evaluations. The programmes described have widely exploited modern interdisciplinary tools and techniques and the discussions include extensive flight test results. Many important `lessons learned' are included from the experience gained when design methods and requirements were tested and optimized in actual flight demonstration.

Proceedings are reported of a symposium held in Dayton, sponsored by the Flight Dynamics Laboratory during 2-5 March 1982. The symposium was planned and ran by the Flight Control Division, specifically the Flying Qualities Group and the Control Techniques Group as part of an ongoing effort to revise and upgrade both MIL-F-8785C, Military Specification, Flying Qualities of Piloted Airplanes, and MIL-F-9490D, Flight Control System-Design, Installation and Test of Piloted Aircraft, General Specification For. Specialists from both the flying qualities and flight control system disciplines were gathered in Dayton from both industry and government agencies. Formal and informal presentations, plus workshop discussions, were structured around proposed draft versions of the new Flying Qualities MIL-Standard and Handbook and the new Flight Control Systems MIL-Specification and Handbook. This report contains a record of the presentations and discussions as submitted by the individual authors.

Annotation Bridging the gap between academic research and real-world applications, this reference on modern flight control methods for fixed-wing aircraft deals with fundamentals of flight control systems design, then concentrates on applications based on the modern control methods used in the latest aircraft. The book is written for practicing engineers who are new to the aviation industry, postgraduate students in strategic or applied research, and advanced undergraduates. Some knowledge of classical control is assumed. Pratt is a member of IEEE and is UK Member for AIAA's Technical Committee on Guidance, Navigation and Control. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Revisitation and extension of classical sampled data approaches for the analysis of discretely controlled continuous systems is the focus of this report. A review of basic linear analysis topics required to support later developments is given. These topics include Laplace, z- and advanced z-transform facts; partial fraction expansion; data holds and the switch decomposition technique. Extension of switch decomposition for the vector signal case is given. A new direct transform domain approach for analyzing two-rate sampled systems is developed. This approach also applies for multi-rate sampled systems in restricted circumstances. Utility of this approach resides in its operator notation and conventions for manipulation in connection with vector block diagram algebra. This, in turn, expedites development of pulse transfer functions and of response recursion relations for multivariable, closed-loop systems. This is accomplished without resorting to the more complicated switch decomposition method. Multi-rate sampling analysis procedures are used to sharpen the concept of 'frequency response' for discretely excited, continuous systems. All methods of analysis presented in this report are closed-form and exact in that no approximation is required in the mathematical development of any result.

A state-of-the-art computational facility for aircraft flight control design, evaluation, and integration called CONDUIT (Control Designer's Unified Interface) has been developed. This paper describes the CONDUIT tool and case study applications to complex rotary- and fixed- wing fly-by-wire flight control problems. Control system analysis and design optimization methods are presented, including definition of design specifications and system models within CONDUIT, and the multi-objective function optimization (CONSOL-OPTCAD) used to tune the selected design parameters. Design examples are based on flight test programs for which extensive data are available for validation. CONDUIT is used to analyze baseline control laws against pertinent military handling qualities and control system specifications. In both case studies, CONDUIT successfully exploits trade-offs between forward loop and feedback dynamics to significantly improve the expected handling qualities and minimize the required actuator authority. The CONDUIT system provides a new environment for integrated control system analysis and design, and has potential for significantly reducing the time and cost of control system flight test optimization.