Handling Qualities Evaluations of Active Inceptors with Varying Force-Feel Characteristics

Active Inceptors in fly-by-wire aircraft offer new possibilities for control law reconfigurability, haptic cueing and system redundancies. Based on recent active inceptor research, new requirements for force-feel characteristics are proposed. Results are obtained from a simulation campaign investigating the influence of dynamic force-feel characteristics on the overall air-vehicle handling qualities (HQs). For this study, a rate-command type controller is evaluated in a pilot-in-the-loop simulation facility. Five mission task elements (MTEs) are flown with a range of force-feel characteristics (stick damping and stick natural frequency). Pilot comments on the active inceptors indicate clear differences and preferences between inceptor configurations. Generally, inceptor configurations with lower damping and higher natural frequency are preferred. Some minor differences, with respect to the MTEs flown, were noted and these may be explored in more detail in future research.