An engineering flight simulator for control loading system development

Abstract

As one of the subsystems of advanced flight simulators, Control Loading System (CLS) enhances the realism of simulation by artificially producing the control forces that occur during the actual flight. In this study, an engineering flight simulator is realized for the purpose of CLS development. The simulator integrates the CLS with a flight dynamics model and a visual system to enable validation with piloted simulations. A linkage type CLS is designed with high torque electric motors, while paying special attention to reconfigurability. Data measured from the actual flight controls is transformed to be input to the CLS by using the proposed systematic procedure. Performance of the designed CLS is investigated, according to the requirements of the international certification standards, by comparing the measured flight control behavior of the simulator with that of the actual aircraft.