Application of Structural Load Feedback in Flight Control

Advances in sensors and avionics computation power suggest real-time structural load measurements could be used in flight control systems for improved safety and performance. A convention transport flight control system determines the moments necessary to meet the pilot’s command, while rejecting disturbances and maintaining stability of the aircraft. Control allocation is the problem of converting these desired moments into control effector commands. In this paper, a framework is proposed to incorporate real-time structural load feedback and structural load constraints in the control allocator. Constrained optimal control allocation can be used to achieve desired moments without exceeding specified limits on monitored load points. Furthermore, certain criteria can be minimized, such as loads on certain parts of the aircraft. Flight safety issues could be addressed by using system health monitoring information to change control allocation constraints during flight. The framework to incorporate structural loads in the flight control system and an optimal control allocation algorithm will be described and then demonstrated on a nonlinear simulation of a generic transport aircraft with flight dynamics and static structural loads.