INTEGRATING FLY-BY-LIGHT/POWER-BY-WIRE FLIGHT CONTROL

SYSTEMS ON TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT

John R. Todd, John A. Hay, and Tri Dinh
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, Transport Aircraft
Long Beach, California
ABSTRACT
The ever increasing performance and economy of operation requirements placed on transport aircraft are resulting in very complex, highly integrated digital aircraft control systems.
Despite the great increase in complexity mandated by these integrated aircraft control and
management systems, substantial improvements in reliability, maintainability, weight savings, manufacturability, and survivability are also required. Fly-By-Light (FBL) and PowerBy-Wire (PBW) technologies and their integration offer the potential of providing lightweight, highly capable, flexible, and robust aircraft control and power systems to meet the
demanding requirements placed on future transport aircraft. This paper discusses FBL/PBW
technologies and integration on transport aircraft.
INTRODUCTION
Increasing performance and mission demands placed on new commercial and military aircraft are resultin in very complex, highly integrated digital control and avionic systems which
are made possib e by the availability of new high speed integrated circuits. More stringent
aircraft performance requirements have also increased the use of composite materials for slat
structures and skins for aircraft weight reduction. These technological advances have brought
with them new challenges. To accommodate future inte rated functions and systems, very
high speed data transfer systems will be needed for critica control, sensing and data transfer
operations. The increasing use of composite structures has decreased the first line electromagnetic environment (EME) shielding previously provided by its metal counterpart. In addition, the general EME, through which aircraft operate, has worsened due to the proliferation of radar, microwave, televlsion and other radio sources.
FLY-BY-LIGHT

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A viable solution to these challenges is fly-by-light. In general, fly-by-light refers to the

application of fiber o tics to aircraft control and avionics systems. Fiber optics can be used
in virtually all contro , sensing and data distribution functions to replace their conventional
electronic counterparts. The most basic manifestation of this is the replacement of the electrical control system signal wiring of fly-by-wire actuators with the fiber optic media used
in fly-by-light.

There are a wide variety of potential benefits that can be realized with fly-by-light technology. Three of these benefits stand out as major driving factors for the incorporation of fly-bylight systems on aircraft. These include:
The basic immunity of fiber optics to electromagnetic interference
sources commonly encountered by aircraft.
The light weight of fiber optic cables.
The high signal bandwidth capability of fiber optics.
The priority of these benefits may vary depending on the particular system needs, but taken
together they provide a set of highly desirable features for aircraft applications.

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1993 IEEE

Electromametic Interference (EMT) Resistance - The basic EM1 immunity of fiber optics
derives from the fact that it operates on light. Light is several orders of magnitude removed
from the EM1 frequency sources commonly associated with the aircraft environment. Since
fiber optics are virtually immune to EMI, the need for wire shielding is eliminated and the
number of conductive paths into the electronics is substantially reduced. Extensive wire
shielding is required on conventional critical digital flight systems to achieve comparative immunity. This shielding is costly, heavy and difficult to maintain. The use of fly-by-light technology provides much of the required immunity without the added weight.
Weight Savincs - Weight savings represent another important potential benefit of fly-bylight on aircraft. Weight savings and performance improvements are closely related on transport aircraft. For the flight and engine control systems of a commercial widebody, over 1000
pounds can be saved by replacing todays fly-by-wire systems with their fly-by-light counterparts, and over 2000 pounds of weight savings over conventional mechanical control systems.
These savings represent only a fraction of the aircraft systems where weight sakings can be
achieved through the application of fiber optics.
HiEh Bandwidth - As aircraft electronic systems become more integrated and complex the
high bandwidth of fiber optics becomes increasingly important. The high bandwidths needed
for these future highly critical and integrated aircraft systems virtually preclude electrical signal transmission media due to the potential for upset from electromagnetic noise. The wide
variety of multiplexin possibilities enhances fiber optic media capabilities and further increases the potential or aircraft weight savings.
POWER-BY-WIRE
Power-by-wire systems, which utilize electrical power to replace distributed hydraulics,
pneumatics, and bleed air, are actively being developed for both military and commercial aircraft. Power-by-wire as manifested in the NASA All Electric Airplane and the USAF
More Electric Airplane concepts offer a number of potential benefits including:
Weight savings due to elimination of non-electric power systems.
Improved engine efficiency from elimination of bleed air.
Simplified installation maintenance due to elimination of distributed
hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
Improved survivability of aircraft structural damage.

Beyond these benefits, power-by-wire makes possible an integrated secondary power distribution system which could provide such features as:
Active power management for improved performance.
Power utilization balancing for optimized use.
Load shedding for emergency conditions.
Taken together, this type of secondary power system could become an integral part of an overall aircraft control system.
INTEGRATED FLY-BY-LIGHT ARCHITECTURE
For the late 1990s and early 21st century commercial aircraft, MDA-TA along with its major
suppliers. are developing an integrated fly-by-light aircraft controls and avionics system
(ACAS). To bring together and integrate all the systems, technologies, and functions being
developed for the ACAS architecture, we have targeted a new high capacity transport as our
initial focus. Figure 1 illustrates some of the basic features incorporated in the ACAS fly-bylight architecture.
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fl

Full Aallmrily Digital Engine Conlrollcr IPADEO

Figure 1. Aircraft Controls and Avionics System (ACAS) Integrated Fly-By-Light

Architecture.

For the ACAS fly-by-light architecture critical functions are included in the integrated modular avionics. Since separation between critical and noncritical functions must be maintained,
and small low cost computers in a module achievable, semi-autonomous modules (essentially
LRUs in a module) would be used in conjunction with very high speed fiber opticdata transfer
to achieve a highly flexible and reliable integrated modular avlonics system.
The ACAS fly-by-light architecture also incorporates fully integrated flight and engine controls for performance optimization and auxiliary control. Another backup flight control is
provided by using the spoilers and horizontal stabilizer in a stick to surface mode for Pitch
and roll control. Differential thrust would also provide backup flight control. Figure 2 illustrates how the primary and backup spoiler control is integrated over common control paths
using our direct optical control approach. The primary flight controls utilize multichannel
smart actuators which receive their digital commands via bidirectional optical data buses.
Control Stick

optlC3llv P m r e d Backup
AElwuon
(Direct Opiiul

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Figure 2. Example of Primary and Backup Integration Using Direct Optical Control.
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In conjunction with the integrated avionics and controls the ACAS architecture could also
incorporate all electric secondary power management, distribution, and actuation.
POWER-BY-WIRE ACTUATION

There are several types of power-by-wire (PBW) actuators available. These include the electrohydraulic servo pump actuator (ESPA), electrohydrostatic actuator (EHA), and electromechanical actuator (EMA). Both the ESPA and the EHA types use electrical motors to rovide hydraulic power at the actuator. Table 1 summarizes the basic characteristics of t ese
PBW actuator types. Figure 3 shows the general configurations of these actuator types as
well as how they might relate to an overall aircraft PBW system.

hlolor must reverse rolstion l o reverse actrullon direction.

X
X

Molor lurns in one dimtion only regardlwr or actuation direction.

Eleclronk conlrolkr is requirrd to conlroi lhe speed and direclion
of motor rohlbn.

Molor musl be slalkd to the hold flight control s u r f m against

Ihe airstream.

Molor mhta conatant speed even at no load.

Suaceplibic lo failure mode that could jam lhc conlrol surraa in m

deflated polttlon.

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Table 1. PBW Actuator Types General Characteristics.

ELEC. P D m R

ELED POWER

ELEC m

EEC.

Figure 3. PBW Actuator Types Basic Configurations.

INTEGRATION OF FLY-BY-LIGHT/POWER-BY-WIREFLIGHT CONTROL
SYSTEMS

The flexability afforded by fly-by-light and power-by-wire technologies provides the key ingredients for a wide variety of possible integrated FBWPBW architectures. The possible architectures range from ones which greatly resemble, and in some cases derive from, today's
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most modern fly-by-wire systems to those which involve a complete departure from today's
transport aircraft flight control systems. The actual integrated FBWPBW architectures developed depend greatly on when they are targeted for production, the type of aircraft, and whether a new or derivative model. Much of the base technologies and hardware required for near
term FBL/PBW flight control systems are being validated on aircraft now or within the next
several years. These include substantial amounts of FBL fiber optic hardware and the PBW
actuators. Other features such as the electric engine starter generator, power management
and distribution, and integrated vehicle controls and components require more development.
Figure 4 illustrates some general approaches to integrated FBL/PBW control systems correlated to generalized timeframes suitable for initial production over the next decade. Table
2 shows the major features which might be added in each of these timeframes. Finally, as
an example, one possible ACAS based architecture is depicted in Figure 5.

NEAR TERM APPROACH

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INTERMEDIATETERM APPROACH
U
-

COllAMllCIlY

R
"
U
.

U
l
u
n
U

LONGER TERM APPROACH

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Figure 4. Some Generalized Integrated FBL/PBW Approaches

Near Term (Basic FBL/PBW)
Computers: Computer Architectures
Actuators (Smart and Dumb, ESPA, EMA, EHA)
- Fiber Optic Busing (Lowand High Speed)

--

Mid Term (Extended FBL/PBW)

Sophisticated Power Management and Distribution System (PMADS)
(WBtarter-Generator)
Moderate Integration of Electrical/Engine/Flight Control Systems

Long Term (Optimized FBL/PBW)

Full Integration of Flight Critical Functions

Flight Control
Electric Power
Engine
ARINC 650 Packaging

*
*
*

Table 2. Add-on Features For Integrated FBLIPBW Control Systems.

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Figure 5. An Example Of One Possible Mid-Term Integrated FBLIPBW Flight Control

System Configuration.

SUMMARY
The new commercial aircraft of the late 1990s and beyond will be highly integrated vehicles.
In this paper we have attempted to describe how the new technologies and functions might
be integrated into fly-by-light/power-by-wire control system architecture.
The integrated fly-by-light/power-by-wire architecture will provide improved performance,
operational capabilities, manufacturabiliv and maintainability, upgradability, as well as cross
type adaptability. The success of these highly integrated fly-by-light/power-by-wire architecture is tied to a multidisciplinary "holistic" development approach and the large scale
application of modularization. Overall, the integrated fly-by-light/power-by-wire architectures and their underlying philosophy may well become the cornerstone of future transport
aircraft.

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