A Smart Actuation System for High Performance Flight Control Systems

Future aircraft will require actuation systems which offer better performance and increased reliability at lower acquisition and life-cycle costs and which can survive and perform in ever increasing environmental hostility.

To meet these requirements, designers are moving toward digital data bus driven, smart actuation systems. The data buses may be electrical or optical and the distributed electronics may be mounted either on or nearby the actuators.

This paper describes two such systems which were designed, prototyped and tested, a triple redundant system for military applications and a quad redundant system for commercial air transport applications.

Several new solutions were developed to solve problems which were encountered and areas for further investigation are identified.