Experimental Results with a New Distributed Aircraft Fuel Control System Which Uses Smart Fieldbus Components

Along the last years a new distributed control system, using smart components and a fieldbus, has been developed and presented in recent DASC conferences. The present application example is the substitution of the conventional central computer aircraft fuel management system, with a new distributed network of smart sensors and actuators, capable of eliminating the need of a central computer. This paper is devoted to recent experimental studies about the performances of the distributed system. In this stage of the research it is interesting to confirm the correct operation of the control system for normal and abnormal fuel system conditions. An important aspect is to take a detailed note of the activity in the fieldbus. Another aspect is to confirm that the dynamic reconfiguration possibilities of the new distributed system, thanks to the smart components, do work in abnormal conditions. The case under study in this paper is more complex than the helicopter case taken initially as reference, now it is an airplane fuel system with six tanks in the wings and a tail tank