Full authority lateral-directional flight control system design using a reconfigurable control and adaptive learning network: a design proposal

Advanced aircraft capable of high angle of attack maneuverability, tight coupling along the lateral axes, and asymmetric configurations present many challenges for the design of fast, accurate, and computationally robust flight control systems (FCSs). The new generation of digital signal processing integrated circuits affords an opportunity to develop a multiprocessor approach that would provide for parallel connectionist implementation of flight control laws, fast computation and sampling speeds, IEEE standard 32-b floating point accuracy, and the increased memory access capabilities required in the next generation of FCSs. A preliminary design for an autonomous lateral-directional flight control system utilizing a multiprocessor reconfigurable control and adaptive learning network for the monitoring of control surface compliance, control law synthesis, and system attribute learning is presented