Computers Take Flight A History Of Nasa S Pioneering Digital Fly By Wire Project

One hundred years after the Wright brothers' first powered flight, airplane designers are unshackled from the constraints that they lived with for the first seven decades of flight because of the emergence of digital fly-by-wire (DFBW) technology. New designers seek incredible maneuverability, survivability, efficiency, or special performance through configurations which rely on a DFBW system for stability and controllability. DFBW systems have contributed to major advances in human spaceflight, advanced fighters and bombers, and safe, modern civil transportation. The story of digital fly-by-wire is a story of people, of successes, and of overcoming enormous obstacles and problems. The fundamental concept is relatively simple, but the realization of the concept in hardware and software safe enough for human use confronted the NASA-industry team with enormous challenges. But the team was victorious, and Dr. Tomayko tells the story extremely well. Today, digital fly-by-wire systems are integral to the operation of a great many aircraft. These systems provide numerous advantages over older mechanical arrangements. By replacing cables, linkages, push rods, pull rods, pulleys, and the like with electronic systems, digital fly-by-wire reduces weight, volume, the number of failure modes, friction, and maintenance. It also enables designers to develop and pilots to fly radical new configurations that would be impossible without the digital technology. Digital fly-by-wire aircraft can exhibit more precise and better maneuver control, greater combat survivability, and, for commercial airliners, a smoother ride. The F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire Project made two significant contributions to the new technology: (1) a solid design base of techniques that work and those that do not, and (2) credible evidence of good flying qualities and the ability of such a system to tolerate real faults and to continue operation without degradation. The narrative of this study captures the intensity of the program in successfully resolving the numerous design challenges and management problems that were encountered. This, in turn, laid the groundwork for leading, not only the U.S., but to a great extent the entire world's aeronautics community into the new era of digital fly-by-wire flight controls. The book also captures the essence of what NASA is chartered to do-develop and transfer major technologies that will keep the U.S. in a world leadership role as the major supplier of commercial aviation, military, and aerospace vehicles and products. The F-8 project is an example of how advanced technology developed in support of the agency's space program, in this case the Apollo endeavor, can be successfully transferred to also address the agency's aeronautics research and development goals, greatly multiplying payoff on taxpayer investments and resources.

Volume 1 relates the story of the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers and the creation of the original aeronautical research establishment in the United States.

On 29 July 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which became operational on 1 October of that year. Over the next 50 years, NASA achieved a set of spectacular feats, ranging from advancing the well-established field of aeronautics to pioneering the new fields of Earth and space science and human spaceflight. In the midst of the geopolitical context of the Cold War, 12 Americans walked on the Moon, arriving in peace “for all mankind.” Humans saw their home planet from a new perspective, with unforgettable Apollo images of Earthrise and the “Blue Marble,” as well as the “pale blue dot” from the edge of the solar system. A flotilla of spacecraft has studied Earth, while other spacecraft have probed the depths of the solar system and the universe beyond. In the 1980s, the evolution of aeronautics gave us the first winged human spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station stands as a symbol of human cooperation in space as well as a possible way station to the stars. With the Apollo fire and two Space Shuttle accidents, NASA has also seen the depths of tragedy. In this volume, a wide array of scholars turn a critical eye toward NASA’s first 50 years, probing an institution widely seen as the premier agency for exploration in the world, carrying on a long tradition of exploration by the United States and the human species in general. Fifty years after its founding, NASA finds itself at a crossroads that historical perspectives can only help to illuminate.

This book offers the first complete account of more than sixty years of international research on In-Flight Simulation and related development of electronic and electro-optic flight control system technologies (“Fly-by-Wire” and “Fly-by-Light”). They have provided a versatile and experimental procedure that is of particular importance for verification, optimization, and evaluation of flying qualities and flight safety of manned or unmanned aircraft systems. Extensive coverage is given in the book to both fundamental information related to flight testing and state-of-the-art advances in the design and implementation of electronic and electro-optic flight control systems, which have made In-Flight Simulation possible. Written by experts, the respective chapters clearly show the interdependence between various aeronautical disciplines and in-flight simulation methods. Taken together, they form a truly multidisciplinary book that addresses the needs of not just flight test engi neers, but also other aeronautical scientists, engineers and project managers and historians as well. Students with a general interest in aeronautics as well as researchers in countries with growing aeronautical ambitions will also find the book useful. The omission of mathematical equations and in-depth theoretical discussions in favor of fresh discussions on innovative experiments, together with the inclusion of anecdotes and fascinating photos, make this book not only an enjoyable read, but also an important incentive to future research. The book, translated from the German by Ravindra Jategaonkar, is an extended and revised English edition of the book Fliegende Simulatoren und Technologieträger , edited by Peter Hamel and published by Appelhans in 2014.