BASIC COMMANDS TO AUTOMATIC FLIGHT-CONTROL SYSTEM
The boundary of the system considered here is shown schematically in figure 1. In the following discussion, the automatic flight-control system is the complete control system of the aircraft. It consists of all sensors, Generalized Command actuators, and control logic. The set of sensors measures aircraft motion...
The function of the control logic is to operate on the data from the sensors and commands ... and thereby to generate commands to the actuators which, in turn, control the aircraft. The degree of automation of the control logic ranges from the fully automatic mode, in which the actuators are completely under the control of the flight computer, to the fully manual mode, in which the actuators are controlled exclusively by the pilot.
Between these extremes, there is a spectrum of modes with specific functions such as handling quality control, ride quality control, gust load alleviation, maneuver load control, and a variety of autopilot modes such as autothrottle, altitude hold, heading capture, etc. Of course, combinations of such elementary modes may also be required. In addition, the control logic must be able to detect failures in various subsystems and switch (when necessary) to the next safest control strategy.
NASA Technical Note D-7940
FORMAL STRUCTURE FOR ADVANCED AUTOMATIC FLIGHT-CONTROL SYSTEMS
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