Hardware in the Loop Simulation of FBW Components

Abstract

The paper presents hardware in the loop simulator developed for validation of control algorithms and electro-hydraulic servo actuators designed for flight by wire control system of a small jet plane. The architecture and functionality of the flight by wire system is briefly described and requirements on validation tests to carry out on the hardware in the loop simulator are mentioned. The flight by wire control system under development consist of dual channel flight control computer and dual channel electronic control unite controlling dual channel electro hydraulic servo actuator with mechanical redundancy. It support several control modes as autopilot and recovery mode. An architecture and software and hardware components of the developed simulator and hydraulic stand are described. The simulator instrumentation is based on distributed peripherals communicating via CANopen industrial field bus. The real time simulation of the plane model is performed via an embedded computer with Power PC processor and Linux operating system. Matlab Simulink environment is used for development of the plane models and control algorithms and data visualization and evaluation. FlightGear, an open source flight simulator, is used for flight visualization. An example of hardware in the loop simulation test is presented.