Automatic Flight Control Systems

This book provides readers with a design approach to the automatic flight control systems (AFCS). The AFCS is the primary on-board tool for long flight operations, and is the foundation for the airspace modernization initiatives. In this text, AFCS and autopilot are employed interchangeably. It presents fundamentals of AFCS/autopilot, including primary subsystems, dynamic modeling, AFCS categories/functions/modes, servos/actuators, measurement devices, requirements, functional block diagrams, design techniques, and control laws. The book consists of six chapters. The first two chapters cover the fundamentals of AFCS and closed-loop control systems in manned and unmanned aircraft. The last four chapters present features of Attitude control systems (Hold functions), Flight path control systems (Navigation functions), Stability augmentation systems, and Command augmentation systems, respectively.

A treatment of automatic flight control systems (AFCS) for fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. The text covers in detail the subject of stability and control theory. All the principal AFC modes are covered and the effects of atmospheric turbulance and structural flexibility are charted.

The history of flight control is inseparably linked to the history of aviation itself. Since the early days, the concept of automatic flight control systems has evolved from mechanical control systems to highly advanced automatic fly-by-wire flight control systems which can be found nowadays in military jets and civil airliners. Even today, many research efforts are made for the further development of these flight control systems in various aspects. Recent new developments in this field focus on a wealth of different aspects. This book focuses on a selection of key research areas, such as inertial navigation, control of unmanned aircraft and helicopters, trajectory control of an unmanned space re-entry vehicle, aeroservoelastic control, adaptive flight control, and fault tolerant flight control. This book consists of two major sections. The first section focuses on a literature review and some recent theoretical developments in flight control systems. The second section discusses some concepts of adaptive and fault-tolerant flight control systems. Each technique discussed in this book is illustrated by a relevant example.

This is an updated edition of the well-known introduction to the principles involved in the automatic flight of fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft. The principles are related to the systems used in the representative types of aircraft (UK and US) currently in service.

This book provides an introduction to the pinciples of automatic flight of fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft. Representative types of aircraft (UK and US) are used to show how these principles are applied in their systems. The revised edition includes new material on automatic flight control systems and helicopters.

"In this part, exhaustive coverage is provided of the methods for analysis and synthesis of automatic flight control systems using classical control theory. This widely used book has been updated with the latest software methods. Throughout this text, the practical (design) applications of the theory are stressed with many examples and illustrations. Aircraft stability and control characteristics are all heavily regulated by civil as well as by military airworthiness authorities for safety reasons. The role of the these safety regulations in the application of the theory is therefore stressed throughout. Airplane Flight Dynamics & Automatic Flight Controls, Part II, is an essential reference for all aeronautical engineers working in the area of stability and control, regardless of experience levels. The book minimizes reader confusion through a systematic progression of fundamentals: - Elastic airplane stability and control coefficients and derivatives - Method for determining the equilibrium and manufacturing shape of an elastic airplane - Subsonic and supersonic numerical examples of aeroelasticity effects on stability & control derivatives - Bode and root-locus plots with open and closed loop airplane applications, and coverage of inverse applications - Stability augmentation systems: pitch dampers, yaw dampers and roll dampers - Synthesis concepts of automatic flight control modes: control-stick steering, auto-pilot hold, speed control, navigation and automatic landing - Digital control systems using classical control theory applications with Z-transforms - Applications of classical control theory - Human pilot transfer functions." --Descripción del editor.