Aircraft Vehicle Equipment Improvements via Microprocessors

The significant advance in microprocessor technology has been recognized by the aircraft community. Over the past several years, strong interest has been expressed in integrating this technology into vehicle equipment subsystems. Thus, the analog control technologies of the past are slowly being replaced by digital control. Of interest in this paper are the significant improvements that can be made in the areas of environmental control, crew escape, and brake systems. The areas that are being addressed with respect to the environmental control system are discussed in the paper; the areas of concern are cooling control, simplification of valve design, and fault detection. The current problems in relation to crew escape and braking systems are described. The manner in which microprocessor technology can relieve these problems are presented. Work in this area by the Boeing Company is also described.