Automatic Flight Control Systems: Latest Developments

The history of flight control is inseparably associated to the history of aviation itself. Since the early period, the concept of automatic flight control systems has progressed from mechanical control systems to highly advanced automatic fly-by-wire flight control systems which can be found nowadays in military jets and civil airliners. A conventional fixed-wing aircraft flight control system consists of flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkages, and the necessary operating mechanisms to control an aircrafts direction in flight. Aircraft engine controls are also considered as flight controls as they change speed. An autopilot is a system used to control the trajectory of a vehicle without constant hands-on control by a human operator being required. Autopilots do not replace a human operator, but assist them in controlling the vehicle, allowing them to focus on broader aspects of operation, such as monitoring the trajectory, weather and systems. Autopilots are used in aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, and others. Autopilots have evolved significantly over time, from early autopilots that merely held an attitude to modern autopilots capable of performing automated landings under the supervision of a pilot. The autopilot in a modern large aircraft typically reads its position and the aircrafts attitude from an inertial guidance system. Automatic Flight Control Systems - Latest Developments emphases on a selection of significant research areas, such as inertial navigation, control of unmanned aircraft and helicopters, trajectory control of an unmanned space re-entry vehicle, aeroservoelastic control, adaptive flight control, and fault tolerant flight control.