RECONFIGURE · REconfiguration of CONtrol in Flight for Integral Global Upset REcovery

Commercial aircraft fault tolerant control (FTC) strategies in the flight control system (FCS) are based on fail-safe approaches whereby a nominal control law is switched first to a robust solution and then if necessary to a direct law controlling the actuators surfaces. Each component of the control law set is designed off-line and has a different level of robustness and performance. The reasons for this conservative FTC approach are:1. Lack of demonstrated maturity of reconfigurable guidance and control (G&C) methods for commercial aircraft.2. Lack of research in the practical interaction limitations between reconfigurable G&C systems and estimation / diagnostic systems.3. A definite gap on the clearance problem for such G&C systems.The goal of RECONFIGURE is to investigate and develop aircraft G&C technologies that facilitate the automated handling of off-nominal events and optimize the aircraft status and flight while maintaining, or even improving, its safety level. These technologies will extend the operation of the current G&C functionalities that assist the pilot and optimize the aircraft performance. Thus, the aim is to provoke a change in aircraft transport towards: “Full-time, all-event availability of performance-enhancement electrical fly-by-wire”This will be achieved by developing:- Advanced parameter and fault estimation/diagnosis approaches.- Reconfigurable G&C approaches.- Integration and integrated approaches for estimation, diagnosis and G&C.- Advanced clearance approaches for such systems.The investigation will focus on off-nominal/abnormal event scenarios directly affecting the aircraft flight control system. The techniques will offer the capability to adjust and adapt to the abnormal event during flight.