AIR4253A Description of Actuation Systems for Aircraft With Fly-By-Wire Flight Control Systems

This information report (AIR) provides design information of various contemporary aircraft fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control actuation systems that may be useful in the design of future systems for similar applications. It is primarily applicable to manned aircraft. It presents the basic characteristics, hardware descriptions, redundancy concepts, functional schematics, and discussions of the servo controls, failure monitoring, and fault tolerance. All existing FBW actuation systems are not described herein; however, those most representing the latest designs are included. While this AIR is intended as a reference source of information for aircraft actuation system designs, the exclusion or omission of any other appropriate actuation system or subsystem should not limit consideration of their use on future aircraft.