EXPERT SYSTEMS FOR FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEMS VERIFICATION

THE INNOVATION IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A KNOWLEDGE BASED SYSTEM (KBS) ENVIRONMENT FOR AUTOMATICALLY VERIFYING AND OPTIMIZING FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEMS (FCS) DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE. THE MAJOR ELEMENTS OF THE FULLY AUTOMATED ENVIRONMENT INCLUDES: A) THE REAL TIME SIMULATION OF THE A/C DYNAMICS, B) THE TARGET FLIGHT CONTROL COMPUTERS (FCC), AND C) THE TEST AND OPTIMIZATION MANAGER (TOM). TOM ACCEPTS HIGH LEVEL TEST OBJECTIVES FROM THE TEST ENGINEER; TRANSLATES THEM INTO SETS OF INITIAL CONDITIONS FOR THE A/C SIMULATION AND THE FCC; CONTROLS THE EXECUTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT; COLLECTS TEST OUTPUTS; AND PERFORMS THE FINE TUNING OF THE CONTROL LAWS; ALL AUTOMATICALLY. TOM, THE KEYCOMPONENT OF THE PROPOSED ENVIRONMENT, WILL BE IMPLEMENTED USING EITHER ART, CLIPS OR G2, AND IT WILL BE HOSTED IN A WORKSTATION, LIKE SUN OR TI EXPLORER. THE BENEFITS OF THE PROPOSED ENVIRONMENT ARE: A) INCREASING CONFIDENCE ON THE VERIFICATION PROCESS BY UTILIZING THE VAST AVAILABLE EXPERIENCE, WHICH IS SELDOM FULLY AVAILABLE WITHIN SMALL TEAMS OF TEST ENGINEERS; B) INCREASING THE UTILIZATION OF EQUIPMENT, WHICH IS TYPICALLY IN HIGH DEMAND; AND C) PROVIDING RAPID FLIGHT TEST TURNAROUND.