Advanced piloted aircraft flight control system design methodology. Volume 2: The FCX flight control design expert system

The development of a comprehensive and electric methodology for conceptual and preliminary design of flight control systems is presented and illustrated. The methodology is focused on the design states starting with the layout of system requirements and ending when some viable competing system architectures (feedback control structures) are defined. The approach is centered on the human pilot and the aircraft as both the sources of, and the keys to the solution of, many flight control problems. The methodology relies heavily on computational procedures which are highly interactive with the design engineer. To maximize effectiveness, these techniques, as selected and modified to be used together in the methodology, form a cadre of computational tools specifically tailored for integrated flight control system preliminary design purposes. The FCX expert system as presently developed is only a limited prototype capable of supporting basic lateral-directional FCS design activities related to the design example used. FCX presently supports design of only one FCS architecture (yaw damper plus roll damper) and the rules are largely focused on Class IV (highly maneuverable) aircraft. Despite this limited scope, the major elements which appear necessary for application of knowledge-based software concepts to flight control design were assembled and thus FCX represents a prototype which can be tested, critiqued and evolved in an ongoing process of development

Space shuttle flying qualities and criteria assessment

Work accomplished under a series of study tasks for the Flying Qualities and Flight Control Systems Design Criteria Experiment (OFQ) of the Shuttle Orbiter Experiments Program (OEX) is summarized. The tasks involved review of applicability of existing flying quality and flight control system specification and criteria for the Shuttle; identification of potentially crucial flying quality deficiencies; dynamic modeling of the Shuttle Orbiter pilot/vehicle system in the terminal flight phases; devising a nonintrusive experimental program for extraction and identification of vehicle dynamics, pilot control strategy, and approach and landing performance metrics, and preparation of an OEX approach to produce a data archive and optimize use of the data to develop flying qualities for future space shuttle craft in general. Analytic modeling of the Orbiter's unconventional closed-loop dynamics in landing, modeling pilot control strategies, verification of vehicle dynamics and pilot control strategy from flight data, review of various existent or proposed aircraft flying quality parameters and criteria in comparison with the unique dynamic characteristics and control aspects of the Shuttle in landing; and finally a summary of conclusions and recommendations for developing flying quality criteria and design guides for future Shuttle craft

Chronological Inversion Method for the Dirac Matrix in Hybrid Monte Carlo

In Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations for full QCD, the gauge fields evolve smoothly as a function of Molecular Dynamics time. Here we investigate improved methods of estimating the trial or starting solutions for the Dirac matrix inversion as superpositions of a chronological sequence of solutions in the recent past. By taking as the trial solution the vector which minimizes the residual in the linear space spanned by the past solutions, the number of conjugate gradient iterations per unit MD time is decreased by at least a factor of 2. Extensions of this basic approach to precondition the conjugate gradient iterations are also discussed.Comment: 35 pages, 18 EPS figures A new "preconditioning" method, derived from the Chronological Inversion, is described. Some new figures are appended. Some reorganization of the material has taken plac

Results from a Second RXTE Observation of the Coma Cluster

The RXTE satellite observed the Coma cluster for 177 ksec during November and December 2000, a second observation motivated by the intriguing results from the first 87 ksec observation in 1996. Analysis of the new dataset confirms that thermal emission from isothermal gas does not provide a good fit to the spectral distribution of the emission from the inner 1 degree radial region. While the observed spectrum may be fit by emission from gas with a substantial temperature gradient, it is more likely that the emission includes also a secondary non-thermal component. If so, non-thermal emission comprises ~8% of the total 4--20 keV flux. Interpreting this emission as due to Compton scattering of relativistic electrons (which produce the known extended radio emission) by the cosmic microwave background radiation, we determine that the mean, volume-averaged magnetic field in the central region of Coma is B = 0.1-0.3 microgauss.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure; APJ, in pres

The Origin of Life

This critique of origin of life theories 1s limited to a consideration of the hypothetical primordial atmosphere, the formation of relatively simple organic compounds and the formation of complex macromolecules. It is maintained that the earth has always had an atmosphere similar to Its present day atmosphere and that this and other proven thermodynamic and chemical kinetic principles and probabil ity considerations positively exclude a naturalistic evolutionary origin of life

Production and Utilization of Sunflower Food Plots at Shelbyville Wildlife Management Area, Illinois

Three sunflower (Helianthus annuus) fields from 3.2 ha to 1.0 ha in size, planted on the Shelbyville Wildlife Management Area, Illinois were analyzed for seed production and utilization by birds. Seed in heads and on the ground were sampled and species and numbers of birds in the fields were censused at two week intervals from September, 1976 to February, 1977. Decline in seed availability was most rapid in the smallest field and least rapid in the largest field. Fields and portions of fields adjacent to wooded cover were also utilized more rapidly. American goldfinch (Spinus tristis) and red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) made up 68.2 percent of the birds counted in the fields, while the three gamebird species present - mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) and bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) - comprised 2.2 percent of the sightings

Some data processing requirements for precision Nap-Of-the-Earth (NOE) guidance and control of rotorcraft

Nap-Of-the-Earth (NOE) flight in a conventional helicopter is extremely taxing for two pilots under visual conditions. Developing a single pilot all-weather NOE capability will require a fully automatic NOE navigation and flight control capability for which innovative guidance and control concepts were examined. Constrained time-optimality provides a validated criterion for automatically controlled NOE maneuvers if the pilot is to have confidence in the automated maneuvering technique. A second focus was to organize the storage and real-time updating of NOE terrain profiles and obstacles in course-oriented coordinates indexed to the mission flight plan. A method is presented for using pre-flight geodetic parameter identification to establish guidance commands for planned flight profiles and alternates. A method is then suggested for interpolating this guidance command information with the aid of forward and side looking sensors within the resolution of the stored data base, enriching the data content with real-time display, guidance, and control purposes. A third focus defined a class of automatic anticipative guidance algorithms and necessary data preview requirements to follow the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal guidance commands dictated by the updated flight profiles and to address the effects of processing delays in digital guidance and control system candidates. The results of this three-fold research effort offer promising alternatives designed to gain pilot acceptance for automatic guidance and control of rotorcraft in NOE operations

A "Cellular Neuronal" Approach to Optimization Problems

The Hopfield-Tank (1985) recurrent neural network architecture for the Traveling Salesman Problem is generalized to a fully interconnected "cellular" neural network of regular oscillators. Tours are defined by synchronization patterns, allowing the simultaneous representation of all cyclic permutations of a given tour. The network converges to local optima some of which correspond to shortest-distance tours, as can be shown analytically in a stationary phase approximation. Simulated annealing is required for global optimization, but the stochastic element might be replaced by chaotic intermittency in a further generalization of the architecture to a network of chaotic oscillators.Comment: -2nd revised version submitted to Chaos (original version submitted 6/07

Pilot-Induced Oscillations and Human Dynamic Behavior

This is an in-depth survey and study of pilot-induced oscillations (PIO's) as interactions between human pilot and vehicle dynamics; it includes a broad and comprehensive theory of PIO's. A historical perspective provides examples of the diversity of PIO's in terms of control axes and oscillation frequencies. The constituents involved in PIO phenomena, including effective aircraft dynamics, human pilot dynamic behavior patterns, and triggering precursor events, are examined in detail as the structural elements interacting to produce severe pilot-induced oscillations. The great diversity of human pilot response patterns, excessive lags and/or inappropriate gain in effective aircraft dynamics, and transitions in either the human or effective aircraft dynamics are among the key sources implicated as factors in severe PIO's. The great variety of interactions which may result in severe PIO's is illustrated by examples drawn from famous PIO's. These are generalized under a pilot-behavior-theory-based set of categories proposed as a classification scheme pertinent to a theory of PIO's. Finally, a series of interim prescriptions to avoid PIO is provided

Analyzing the Interaction and Consequences of International Financial Merger & Acquisitions on Nonresident Alien Rates for Higher Education Leadership in the United States

The study used this data to determine the effect between time and merger status upon the DVs of revenue, fall enrollment rates, and nonresident alien rates beginning the AY of the Financial M&A event and 5 years after the event. The results of the study do indicate that nonresident alien rates did grow favorably over the five years for both Financial M&A HEIs and non-merging HEIs but that the interaction effect between time and merger status upon nonresident alien rates was not significant. This suggests that other factors caused growth in nonresident alien rates apart from M&A activity. Researchers have noted that globalization has become an increasing factor in higher education and that there exists increasing competition for nonresident alien students. Therefore, the most effective means of improving nonresident alien rates seems to lie somewhere other than Financial M&A initiatives