gambit
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Additional clarification about 'quadruplex'.
Q. Why do we need to split one input (such as pitot air) into four in the first place?
A. Because we live in an imperfect world.
Mechanical doo-dads wears out. Electronics loses their properties and performance with age. Anyone ever seen a leaked out capacitor in the early days of electronics engineering? So if we keep only one output from the pilot control stick to become an input to the FLCC, how do we know that the source is reliable over time and usage? We do not. Hence the brilliant idea of splitting into four and vote on them.
If the control stick wore out over time, one or more of the positional transducers will be out of tolerance. If the pitot-static probe is clogged, full or partial, there will be such wide discrepancy of air data that the entire system will be rendered useless. One into four gives us the real time redundancy checking and transparency of operations we want.
General Dynamics refined the architecture to the point where the -16's FBW-FLCS sets the standards for the current technology we see today in both military and civilian applications, and not just in aviation but in future drive-by-wire cars as well.
Q. Why do we need to split one input (such as pitot air) into four in the first place?
A. Because we live in an imperfect world.
Mechanical doo-dads wears out. Electronics loses their properties and performance with age. Anyone ever seen a leaked out capacitor in the early days of electronics engineering? So if we keep only one output from the pilot control stick to become an input to the FLCC, how do we know that the source is reliable over time and usage? We do not. Hence the brilliant idea of splitting into four and vote on them.
If the control stick wore out over time, one or more of the positional transducers will be out of tolerance. If the pitot-static probe is clogged, full or partial, there will be such wide discrepancy of air data that the entire system will be rendered useless. One into four gives us the real time redundancy checking and transparency of operations we want.
General Dynamics refined the architecture to the point where the -16's FBW-FLCS sets the standards for the current technology we see today in both military and civilian applications, and not just in aviation but in future drive-by-wire cars as well.