![]() ![]() The flight qualification experience is emphasized. The system is described, including the hardware components, the aircraft installation, and the system operation. The system requirements are outlined, along with the requirements for flight qualification. The experience gained in digital fly-by-wire technology through a flight test program being conducted by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in an F-8C aircraft is described. ![]() Some system components are expected to be vulnerable to these voltages.ĭigital Fly-By-Wire Flight Control Validation Experience A 200,000 ampere severe lightning flash would produce between volts in DFBW circuits. Voltages measured at the non-destructive test level were then scaled upward to determine how much would be produced by actual lightning. Voltage measurements were made in both the line-to-ground and line-to-line modes. Measurements were made of the voltages induced on the DFBW circuits, the total current induced on the bundles of wires, the magnetic field intensity inside the aircraft, and the current density on the skin of the aircraft. Current pulses similar in waveshape to natural lightning, but lower in amplitude, were injected into the aircraft. The aircraft was a NASA operated F-8 fitted with a modified Apollo guidance computer. The effects of lightning on a Digital Fly-By-Wire (DFBW) aircraft control system were investigated. Lightning effects on the NASA F-8 digital-fly-by-wire airplane Digital fly-by-wire systems have since been incorporated into large airliners, military jets, revolutionary new aircraft, and even cars and submarines. Using the ultra-reliable Apollo Guidance Computer that enabled the Apollo Moon missions, Dryden Flight Research Center engineers, in partnership with industry leaders such as Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratory, demonstrated that digital computers could be used to fly aircraft. Man-rated flight software and the effects of lightning on digital flight control systems are also discussed.įly-by-Wire Systems Enable Safer, More Efficient Flight The papers included in this report describe the Phase I system and its development and present results from the flight program. It will involve developing and flight testing a triplex digital fly-by-wire system using state-of-the-art airborne computers, system hardware, software, and redundancy concepts. The objective of Phase II of the program is to establish a technology base for designing practical DFBW systems. ![]() Phase I of the program demonstrated the feasibility of using a digital fly-by-wire system for aircraft control through developing and flight testing a single channel system, which used Apollo hardware, in an F-8C airplane. The algorithm's successful flight test program is summarized, and specific examples are presented of algorithm behavior in response to software-induced signal faults, both with and without aircraft parameter modeling errors.ĭescription and Flight Test Results of the NASA F-8 Digital Fly-by-Wire Control SystemĪ NASA program to develop digital fly-by-wire (DFBW) technology for aircraft applications is discussed. The details are presented of an onboard digital computer algorithm designed to reliably detect and isolate the first failure in a duplex set of flight control sensors aboard the NASA F-8 digital fly-by-wire aircraft. In 1972 the F-8C aircraft used in the program became he first digital fly-by-wire aircraft to operate without a mechanical backup system.Īnalytical redundancy management mechanization and flight data analysis for the F-8 digital fly-by-wire aircraft flight control sensors The 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. Computers Take Flight: A History of NASA's Pioneering Digital Fly-By-Wire ProjectĪn overview of the NASA F-8 Fly-by Wire project is presented. ![]()
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