Analyzing manipulator and feel system effects in aircraft flight control

The response characteristics of modern, highly augmented aircraft have reached the point where the vehicle and control system dynamics have begun to interact adversely with the actuation dynamics of the human pilot. Actuation dynamics include the characteristics of both the pilot´s neuromuscular system and those of the manipulator and feel system by which the pilot´s will is imparted to the aircraft. To address this problem, a simple pilot/vehicle model is developed that can be used both to interpret pertinent flight-test and simulation results and to serve as a tractable tool for assessing proposed changes in manipulator-feel system characteristics. The model hypothesizes proprioceptive information to be a fundamental feedback quantity in the pilot´s ability to adopt the compensation characteristics required by the crossover model of the human pilot. The model includes manipulator-feel system dynamics, vestibular (motion) feedback, and a rudimentary form of biodynamic feedback. Simple frequency domain control system analysis techniques are applied to the study of manipulator and force feel system effects and to an analysis of the roll ratchet phenomenon