Radio-Frequency Wireless Flight-Control System

Technological advances have driven the evolution of aircraft flight-control systems. In the dawn of 20th-century aviation, the Wright Brothers used cables and warping of wing surfaces to change the shapes of flight-control surfaces. As engineers designed aircraft capable of flying faster, higher, and farther, the forces needed for controlling the aircraft surpassed the physical abilities of pilots. Hydraulics were introduced to provide the pilot with the capability to manipulate the flight-control surfaces on the wings and tail of the aircraft. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) has been instrumental in effecting the continuing evolution of aviation technology by exploring ways of replacing hydraulics with "power by wire" actuators; an instance of this effort was reported in "Design-ing Electrically Powered Actuators for Aircraft" (DRC-9609), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 21, No. 10 (October 1997), page 84.