Fly-by-light aircraft closed loop test program

The Fly-by-Light Aircraft Closed-Loop Test (FACT) program is a flight test program sponsored by NASA-Lewis Research Center. The objectives of the FACT program are to demonstrate optical closed-loop control of flight critical and non-flight critical control surfaces and to demonstrate installation and maintenance aspects of fiber optics for application to commercial aircraft. This paper summarizes the FACT program optical maintenance, test architecture, and hardware developments to be flight tested on the NASA-Dryden F/A-18 Systems Research Aircraft (SRA). The modifications include replacing Fly-By-Wire (FBW) main ram feedback LVDT's with optic position sensors and an electro-optic decoder, and using electrical to optic converters and reverse for commands. The performance and handling qualities will be validated by laboratory, ground, and flight tests. The goal is to demonstrate system performance equivalent to the production system.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.