Approach and Landing Flight Evaluation of Smart-Cue and Smart-Gain Concepts

摘要

The smart-cue and smart-gain concepts were developed as a means to alleviate pilot–vehicle-system loss of controlnin the presence of control surface actuator rate limiting. Both concepts exploit the measure of dynamic distortion,nthat is, the difference between the actual and an ideal aircraft control system response. The concept of dynamicndistortion has significantly evolved in work conducted by Systems Technology, Inc., during a two-phase programnsponsored by NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. In this work, the distortion of interest results from controlnsurface rate limiting and is quantified by the surface position error, whereas the distortion metric is the position lag.Anforce feedback cue (the constraining function) and/or a command path gain reduction are created when the positionnerror exceeds the position lag (the alerting function). This paper examines the approach and landing flight-testnevaluations conducted using the Calspan Corporation Learjet II In-Flight Simulator. Three test pilots evaluatednseveral smart-cue and smart-gain implementations while performing the precision offset landing task. One of thenpilots flew on a calm air day, whereas the other two flew on days with moderate turbulence and significant crosswinds.nThe clear performance enhancer for all three pilots was the smart-gain, however, the best results for the two pilotsnwho flew under adverse conditions were obtained for the configuration that featured both the smart-cue and smartgainnactive. This configuration eliminated the undesirable motions that were encountered in the final centerlinencorrection when only the smart-gain was active.