Distributed Control System for Aircraft Fuel Management – Part I

Typical fuel management in aircraft are centralized control systems. The are several key benefits for a more efficient aviation if the approach is decentralized. The main avionics advantage is that there is elimination of a central control computer that favors fault-tolerance as well as less cabling which basically means less weight and simpler maintenance. This lecture presents a fuel control avionics system entirely distributed using smart fuel components. The approach replaces the conventional fuel control system which involves a central computer connected point to point with each system component (valve, pump, level sensors, etc.) by a distributed control system. The fuel management system from one helicopter and one airplane has been considered as application examples. The distributed system is built based on a field bus, eliminating the central computer, and distributing the control process on microcontrollers embedded in the components. Since the components have microcontrollers, they can implement advanced functions such as auto-calibration, auto-testing, etc. In any case, the most important thing is that these components know when they must interact according to the sequences of actions in the fuel management. Lecture part I shows the methodology behind the approach, including a review of related existing technologies, functional aspects of the approach, and development consideration. It also discusses support tools to develop the distributed control system in question, and some preliminary experimental results.