Helicopter Flight Control High Level

Software Requirements Document

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Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
System Description ....................................................................................................................................... 4
High-Level Software Requirements .............................................................................................................. 5
HLR_1 Pilot Input Signal Processing .......................................................................................................... 5
HLR_2 Hydraulic Actuator Feedback......................................................................................................... 5
HLR_3 Hydraulic Actuator Drive ............................................................................................................... 5
HLR_4 Hydraulic Actuator Loop Control ................................................................................................... 6
HLR_5 Multi-Variable Inner Loop Control................................................................................................. 6
HLR_6 Pitch Outer Loop Control ............................................................................................................... 6
HLR_7 Roll Outer Loop Control ................................................................................................................. 6
HLR_8 Yaw Outer Loop Control ................................................................................................................ 7
HLR_9 AHRS Validity Check ....................................................................................................................... 7
HLR_10 AHRS Input Signal Processing ...................................................................................................... 7
HLR_11 AHRS Voting for Triple Sensors .................................................................................................... 7
HLR_12 AHRS Voting for Dual Sensors...................................................................................................... 7
HLR_13 AHRS Usage of Single Sensor ....................................................................................................... 7

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Introduction
This document provides the high level software requirements for a helicopter flight control system that
provides attitude and attitude rate control based on pilot input commands.

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System Description
The flight control system consists of pilot input controls, cyclic and pedals, a flight control computer and
hydraulic actuators to control the main and tail rotors. A diagram of the system is shown in the figure
below.

The cyclic controls the pitch of the rotor blades to allow the helicopter pitch up or down and roll right or
left. The pedal input controls the tail rotor to allow the helicopter to yaw right or left. This control
system does not include throttle control or collective control, which combined control the total lift of
the helicopter.

This document defines the high-level software requirements for the Flight Control Computer.

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High-Level Software Requirements
This section provides the high level requirements for the flight control computer software. Each
requirement is tagged with HLR_ and a unique number for the purposes of providing trace anchors for
the software design and software verification cases to trace to. Each requirement is also put into a
subsection of this section.

HLR_1 Pilot Input Signal Processing

The flight control computer hardware processes three LVDT inputs from the pilot cockpit controls,
including fore/aft cyclic position, left/right cyclic position and pedal left/right position. The hardware
provides a 16 bit signed integer input to the software for each of the LVDT positions.

The characteristics of the LVDT inputs to the software are defined in the following table along with the
desired command of the system.

Signal LVDT Input Sign LVDT Input Range Software Input Pilot Command
Range Scaling
Fore/aft cyclic Aft = + +/- 2 inches -32768 to +32767 15 deg/inch
Left/right cyclic Right = + +/- 2 inches -32768 to +32767 15 deg/inch
Left/right pedal Right = + +/- 3 inches -32768 to +32767 5 deg/sec/inch

HLR_2 Hydraulic Actuator Feedback

The flight control computer hardware processes three LVDT inputs from the hydraulic actuators,
including fore/aft main rotor control, left/right main rotor control and left/right tail rotor control. The
hardware provides a 16 bit signed integer input to the software for each of the LVDT positions.

The characteristics of the LVDT inputs to the software are defined in the following table along with the
desired command of the system.

Signal LVDT Input Sign LVDT Input Range Software Input

Range
Fore/aft main Aft = + +/- 0.1 meter -32768 to +32767
rotor feedback
Left/right main Right = + +/- 0.1 meter -32768 to +32767
rotor feedback
Left/right tail rotor Right = + +/- 0.1 meter -32768 to +32767
feedback

HLR_3 Hydraulic Actuator Drive

The flight control computer software shall drive three electrohydraulic valve (EHV) outputs, one to each
of the hydraulic actuators. The software provides a 16 bit signed integer input to the hardware for each
of the electrohydraulic valve commands.

The characteristics of the EHV commands to the hardware are defined in the following table along with
the desired command of the system.

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 Signal EHV Input Sign EHV Input Range Software Output
Range
Fore/aft main Aft = + +/- 0.1 meter -32768 to +32767
rotor command
Left/right main Right = + +/- 0.1 meter -32768 to +32767
rotor command
Left/right tail rotor Right = + +/- 0.1 meter -32768 to +32767
command

HLR_4 Hydraulic Actuator Loop Control

Each hydraulic actuator loop shall be implemented as a proportional/integral/derivative (PID) control
loop operating at 1 millisecond frame rate.

The proportional gain shall be 0.339.

The integral gain shall be 2.73.

The derivative gain shall be 0.00272.

The derivative filter coefficient shall be 0.00863

HLR_5 Multi-Variable Inner Loop Control

The flight control computer software shall provide closed loop control of pitch rate, roll rate and yaw
rate with a bandwidth of 40 rad/sec. The input variables from the AHRS sensor for computing the
feedback signals shall be pitch attitude, roll attitude, yaw body rate, roll body rate and pitch body rate.
The input variables from the outer loop control shall be pitch rate command, roll rate command and
yaw rate command.

The following gain matrix shall be used to convert the AHRS input signal vector (5x1) to the proper
feedback vector (1x3) for closing the loop:

1.66300000000 -0.12270000000 0.09323000000 0.61060000000 -0.00016220000

-0.29070000000 -1.42700000000 0.02917000000 -0.07969000000 -0.10990000000

-0.00258700000 0.01380000000 -2.26300000000 -0.01216000000 0.03313000000

The inner loop control shall operate at a 10miilisecond frame rate.

HLR_6 Pitch Outer Loop Control

The pitch outer loop shall be implemented as a proportional/integral (PI) control loop operating at 10
millisecond frame rate.

The proportional gain shall be 0.735.

The integral gain shall be 1.61.

HLR_7 Roll Outer Loop Control

The roll outer loop shall be implemented as a proportional/integral (PI) control loop operating at 10
millisecond frame rate.

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The proportional gain shall be -0.0719.

The integral gain shall be -1.54.

HLR_8 Yaw Outer Loop Control

The yaw outer loop shall be implemented as a proportional/integral (PI) control loop operating at 10
millisecond frame rate.

The proportional gain shall be 0.143.

The integral gain shall be -2.59.

HLR_9 AHRS Validity Check

Prior to using the data from an AHRS, the flight control software shall verify the AHRS data is valid.

HLR_10 AHRS Input Signal Processing

The flight control computer hardware processes three AHRS digital bus inputs.

The characteristics of the AHRS inputs, from each of the three sensors, to the software are defined in
the following table.

Signal Input Sign Input Range

AHRS Valid N/A 1 = Valid
0 = Invalid
Pitch Attitude Up = + +/- 90 degrees
Roll Attitude Right = + +/- 180 degrees
Pitch body rate Up = + +/- 60 deg/sec
Roll body rate Right = + +/- 60 deg/sec
Yaw body rate Right = + +/- 60 deg/sec

HLR_11 AHRS Voting for Triple Sensors

When three AHRS are valid, the flight control computer shall use the middle value of the three sensors
for each of the individual parameters from the AHRS.

HLR_12 AHRS Voting for Dual Sensors

When only two AHRS are valid, the flight control computer shall use the average of the two sensors for
each of the individual parameters from the AHRS.

HLR_13 AHRS Usage of Single Sensor

When only one AHRS is valid, the flight control computer shall use the individual parameters from that
AHRS.

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