Fly-by-wire flight control system and method

Abstract

A multi-axis serially redundant, single channel, multi-path fly-by-wire control system comprising: serially redundant flight control computers in a single channel where only one “primary” flight control computer is active and controlling at any given time; a matrix of parallel flight control surface controllers including stabilizer motor control units (SMCU) and actuator electronics control modules (AECM) define multiple control paths within the single channel, each implemented with dissimilar hardware and which each control the movement of a distributed set of flight control surfaces on the aircraft in response to flight control surface commands of the primary flight control computer; and a set of (pilot and co-pilot) controls and aircraft surface/reference/navigation sensors and systems which provide input to a primary flight control computer and are used to generate the flight control surface commands to control the aircraft in flight in accordance with the control law algorithms implemented in the flight control computers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A flight control computer for an aircraft, the flight control computer comprising:
 a receiving module for receiving a signal indicative of a commanded position of at least one flight control surface of the aircraft, the signal being generated by at least one input control;   a first processor configured to execute a command lane, the command lane generating flight surface control commands according to predetermined flight control algorithms in part as a function of the signal;   a second processor configured to execute a monitor lane; and   a self-testing module configured to compare the command lane against the monitor lane to identify whether the flight control computer is to operate at least one of (i) taking itself offline and (ii) setting its status as invalid.   
     
     
         2 . The flight control computer of  claim 1 , wherein the self-testing module is configured so as to determine whether a difference between the command lane and the monitor lane is within a predetermined tolerance. 
     
     
         3 . The flight control computer of  claim 1 , further comprising a module configured to determine that the flight control computer is to become an active primary flight control computer upon determination that another flight control computer is invalid. 
     
     
         4 . A flight surface controller for an aircraft, the flight surface controller comprising:
 a receiving module for receiving at least one of flight surface control commands and a signal, the flight surface control commands being generated by a flight control computer and the signal being generated by an input control;   a control module being capable of controlling at least one flight control surface of the aircraft based on at least one of the flight surface control commands and the signal; and   a command decode logic module capable of determining that no flight control computer is being capable of becoming an active primary flight control computer of the aircraft.   
     
     
         5 . The flight surface controller of  claim 4 , wherein the control module is capable of being commanded according to predetermined flight control algorithms for direct mode operation in response to the signal upon determination, by the command decode logic module, that no flight control computer is being capable of becoming an active primary flight control computer of the aircraft. 
     
     
         6 . A method of controlling an aircraft, the method comprising:
 receiving a signal indicative of a commanded position of at least one flight control surface of the aircraft;   generating, by a first flight control computer, flight surface control commands according to predetermined flight control algorithms in part as a function of the signal;   upon determining that the first flight control computer is invalid, selecting a second flight control computer to become an active primary flight control computer;   generating, by the second flight control computer, flight surface control commands according to predetermined flight control algorithms in part as a function of the signal; and   applying the flight surface control commands to a flight control surface controller, the flight control surface controller being capable of controlling at least one flight control surface of the aircraft.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 determining that none of the first flight control computer and the second flight control computer is capable of becoming the active primary flight control computer; and   commanding the flight control surface controller according to predetermined flight control algorithms for direct mode operation in response to the signal.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein determining that the first flight control computer is invalid is executed by a self-testing module of the first flight control computer. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the method comprises, upon determining that the first flight control computer is invalid, at least one of (i) taking the first flight control computer offline and (ii) setting the status of the first flight control computer as invalid. 
     
     
         10 . A fly-by-wire flight control system of an aircraft, comprising:
 a plurality of input controls, each one of the plurality of input controls being capable of generating a signal indicative of a commanded position of at least one flight control surface;   a plurality of flight control computers, wherein a first one of the plurality of flight control computers is an active flight control computer capable of generating flight surface control commands according to predetermined flight control algorithms in part as a function of the signal; and   wherein the first one of the plurality of flight control computers is capable of determining that it is invalid, and a second one of the plurality of flight control computers is capable of becoming the active flight control computer.