The application of parallel computing to the design of advanced helicopter flight control systems via real-time simulation

Real-time, non-linear simulations of the dynamics of helicopter flight play a key role in the generation validation and testing of the flight control laws used in automatic flight control systems (AFCS). The purpose of the AFCS is to provide, through feedback, qualities of stability, disturbance rejection, decoupling of lateral and longitudinal motions, good pilot command tracking performance, but in a manner that generates a vehicle that is easy to fly, has low pilot workload in critical flight regimes and is consistent across the flight envelope. This paper shows that a parallel modelling approach using transputers, INMOS is not only capable of generating the required model, but is also ideally suited to its natural concurrency. The transputer, INMOS, is a single VLSI device with processor, memory and communications links for direct connection to other transputers. Concurrent systems can be constructed from a collection of transputers operating concurrently and communicating through links