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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0022.PDF
The YF-22 contains a prototype for tomorrow's military cockpit brassboard systems have been demonstrated successfully in ground laboratories, air borne testbeds and, for the F-22, in flying prototypes representative of the aircraft. COMPUTERS AND CONTROLS A major achievement of the YF-22 demonstration effort was the successful flight testing of a vehicle management system (VMS) which integrated control of the aircraft's many subsystems, including its fly-by-wire flight controls. The YF-22 VMS, which serves as a prototype for that of the F-22, comprises a quadruplex-redundant, 1553B-standard, digital databus — the integrated flight/ propulsion bus — linking all flight-critical systems: flight and propulsion controls, head-up display and mission display proces sors, vehicle subsystem controls, fuel- management system and air-data and inertial sensors. A key element of the YF-22 VMS is the integrated vehicle subsystem control (IVSC), which relays pilot commands to subsystems, communicates subsystem status back to the pilot and monitors and controls certain subsystem functions. IVSC software controls or partially controls the aircraft's landing gear, environmental-control, hy draulic, electrical, life-support, fire- protection and auxiliary-power systems. Communicating with cockpit multifunc tion controls and displays via the integrated flight/propulsion bus, the IVSC largely re places the dedicated displays, panels and switches associated historically with each subsystem. The IVSC provides status, alerts, warnings and diagnostics to assist the pilot in fault detection and correction. Lear Astronics supplied the YF-22's quad ruple digital flight-control computers and if iin**:*rrr u irstf « «Tnns JUUlrW rrf m <)hnirtrtht^-x •_. dual IVSCs and is de veloping the F-22's vehicle management system jointly with General Dynamics, using core hardware supplied by Texas In struments. GEC Avi onics is assisting associate company Lear Astronics in de velopment of the F-22 VMS and is also supplying the wide- angle head-up display — the F-22 pilot's primary flight instru ment — and sidestick controller. Boeing Helicopters is the Comanche (RAH-66) team mem ber responsible for in tegration of the helicopter's digital avionics, fly-by-wire flight controls and all-important mission- equipment package (MEP). Boeing Electronics Systems is developing the RAH-66's triple digital flight-control computers jointly with Flamilton Standard. This computer will perform stability aug mentation and provide autopilot functions, including nap-of-the-earth flight. Hamilton Standard will also co-develop the air-vehicle interface computer that will manage selected subsystems. This system will also collect and store diagnostic infor mation, which can be accessed by ground personnel using a laptop device called the portable intelligent maintenance aid. The company's other Comanche contributions include the omnidirectional very-low-speed air-data sensor, environmental-control sys tem and the electronics unit which drives the crew's helmet-mounted displays. LI I artsrirsra w~a « tm^jt m w»_m m Ma «_jd 4 m-^*ws •*-%•*> %•%•* The F-22's avionics are compact and consist of plug-in integrated modules The Comanche's helmet-integrated dis play sighting system will be co-developed by Hamilton Standard and Kaiser Electron ics, which will supply the wide-field-of-view helmet-mounted displays and head-tracking sensors. Kaiser is also part of the F-22 team, supplying liquid-crystal multifunction head- down displays to Lockheed Sanders. Harris is also in the fortunate situation of having been selected by both Advanced Tactical Fighter and Light Helicopter win ning teams. Systems which Harris will supply for the RAH-66 include: the fibre-optic high-speed databus which links sensor processors with cockpit controls and displays; and the sensor data distribution network which provides fibre-optic point-to-point links be tween sensors and processors. Harris' Comanche involvement goes be yond the supply of fibre-optic systems. The 20 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 January, 1992
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