DEVELOPMENT OF AN AIRCRAFT FLIGHT TECHNOLOGY RESEACH SYSTEM

TO MEET THE EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH THROUGHPUT REQUIREMENTS OF DOD STRATEGIC/TACTICAL AIRCRAFT IN THE 1990'S IT IS NECESSARY TO DEVELOP HIGHLY PARALLEL (OR DISTRIBUTED) FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEMS. BECAUSE THE COMPUTER ARCHITECTURES OF SUCH SYSTEMS TEND TO BE PROBLEM DRIVEN TO ACHIEVE THE NECESSARY THROUGHPUT, A DISTRIBUTED FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM IS PROPOSED THAT MAY BE RECONFIGURED TO EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF ALTERNATIVE MULTIPROCESSOR FLIGHT CONTROL ALGORITHMS AND ARCHITECTURES. SUCH A TESTBED FACILITY IS LARGELY UNAVAILABLE IN AEROSPACE RESEARCH LABORATORIES AND INDUSTRY WHERE SIGNIFICANT RESOURCES ARE STILL EXPENDED TO THE PROPOSED RESEARCH DEVELOPS A REAL-TIME AIRCRAFT FLIGHT CONTROL FACILITY BY INTEGRATING STATE-OF-THE-ART VLSI HARDWARE WITH THE DOD ADA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE. THE TESTBEDFACILITY MAY BE USED TO PROVE REAL-TIME AIRCRAFT FLIGHT CONTROL CONCEPTS IN THE LABORATORY.