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Command Augmentation System

Posted by Curt Olson on September 29, 2010 at 1:17pm

I've been doing some more work on my CAS system. CAS stands for "Command Augmentation System" and implies the pilot stick inputs do not directly map to control surface deflections. Instead the pilot stick inputs command a roll/pitch request and the flight computer does it's best to match up. The video (hopefully) can do a much better job of explaining the system than words.
More details and additional "real" video footage of the system in action are here:
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Comments

  • Curt Olson September 30, 2010 at 1:11pm
    Hi Benjamin, the entire system is not open source, but significant core components of it are. For instance, FlightGear is the glass display engine (shown in the movie.) The flight computer software is largely open source: http://code.google.com/p/microgear/ The flight computer itself is running linux (open-source). The ground station laptop is running linux. The movie was edited together with cinelerra, mencoder, and ffmpeg (all open-source.)
  • Ben September 30, 2010 at 4:38am
    Very nice. Is the source available for study or is it proprietary?
  • Curt Olson September 29, 2010 at 2:34pm
    Hi Gary: you get the prize for being observant! Many years ago I got a chance to tag along for some A320 training in a full motion full cockpit simulator at the NATCO in Minneapolis. I got to shoot two approaches from the left seat and the system worked well enough that even I totally greased the second landing, right on the numbers, right on the center line:

    http://catalina.flightgear.org/curt/Photos/A320/gallery.html

    The flight control system of the airbus really impressed me and stuck in my head all these years, and indeed this is exactly the sort of system I'm trying to mimic (but at a very simplistic level of course.) Unfortunately I'm not as accurate of pilot with my RC airplanes as I am with the real thing (I guess) :-)
  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer September 29, 2010 at 2:28pm
    Bit like an Airbus then, that is the way of the future I think.
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