Speaking of pain [actuator failure diagnostics]

It is suggested that simultaneous monitoring of two flight actuator parameters, with proper analysis, could provide meaningful diagnostic information at very early stages of the developing failure     

High-torque density integrated electro-mechanical flight actuators

Electro-mechanical flight actuators (EMFAs) are core flight-critical vehicle components. Fly-by-wire or fly-by-light control of EMFAs is performed by flight management systems (flight, mission, propulsion, and integrated controls that manage any combination of specific flight, mission, and propulsion functions). Reported here are novel results in the analysis of EMFAs with permanent-magnet synchronous motors, with particular interest in the application of brushless high-torque density motors which have superior characteristics compared with other state-of-the-art motor technologies. It is shown that due to nonlinearities and bounds, new control algorithms must be developed and implemented to achieve a spectrum of performance and requirements for EMFAs. A number of important issues in control, analysis, model development, integration, and verification are studied. Tracking control algorithms are synthesized, stability studied, and novel analysis results are reported. Advanced computer-aided engineering software tools and emerging simulation-based design environments are used to guarantee high fidelity modeling and analysis within data intensive simulation. Proof-of-concept demonstration testbeds for the design of advanced EMFAs and their components are developed, and EMFA imitator performance thoroughly studied. Verification of the concepts reported are formed and documented. Precise tracking, disturbance attenuation, accuracy, stability, robustness, and excellent acceleration capabilities are reported. A demonstration is performed to substantiate the theoretical analyses to add credence to its applicability as an approach and method that the designer of future EMFAs can use to design a new class of actuators for aircraft flight control surfaces     

On-line diagnostics of a self-contained flight actuator

A mathematical model describing the dynamics of a self-contained flight control actuator is established. Typical failures of the actuator are defined in the space of the model parameters in the form of a failure pattern library. A diagnostic model of the actuator, intentionally sensitive to particular failures, is defined. A diagnostic procedure, featuring on-line parameter estimation of the diagnostic model, failure detection, and isolation, is proposed. A failure prediction procedure, utilizing trends exhibited by parameter estimates, is formulated. The results are verified by computer simulation     

Data mining technology for failure prognostic of avionics

Adverse environmental conditions have combined cumulative effects leading to performance degradation and failures of avionics. Classical reliability addresses statistically-generic devices and is less suitable for the situations when failures are not traced to manufacturing but rather to unique operational conditions of particular hardware units. An approach aimed at the accurate assessment of the probability of failure of any avionics unit utilizing the known history-of-abuse from environmental and operational factors is presented herein. The suggested prognostic model utilizes information downloaded from dedicated monitoring systems of flight-critical hardware and stored in a database. Such a database can be established from the laboratory testing of hardware and supplemented with real operational data. This approach results in a novel knowledge discovery from data technology that can be efficiently used in a wide area of applications and provide a quantitative basis for the modern maintenance concept known as service-when-needed. An illustrative numerical example is provided     

Challenges of education in engineering

The article discussed the present challenges of engineering education and the role it plays in the society. It tackled some important issues in engineering education including the decreasing interest of American High School graduates in engineering program and solution to this problem by promoting engineering education via the Internet.     

Stiffness enhancement of flight control actuator

A modification of the model reference approach, using numerical optimization is proposed for the estimation of external forces applied to control surfaces of an aircraft. This estimation provides the basis for the feedforward control of the surface position. Incorporated into the control system of a flight control actuator, this technique allows a significant enhancement of the actuator stiffness     

Lyapunov-based decentralized adaptive control for laser beam tracking systems

A successful controller design is crucial for establishing and maintaining an optical link between free-space communication stations engaged in a laser communication session. This task is quite difficult due to nonlinear behavior, cross-coupled dynamics, and time-varying characteristics of all known beam steering technologies. A novel adaptive control technique utilizing Lyapunov function to ensure global asymptotic stability of the system, thus resulting in a highly robust system performance, is developed. The technique applied to a piezo-electric mirror setup results in a highly efficient controller design that does not require prior knowledge of system dynamics, while providing independent access to azimuth and elevation positions of the laser beam. The basic algorithm is presented and the results of its application are demonstrated.