Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology · 1966 · 463 citations · 0 references
EngineeringMechanical EngineeringMechatronics EngineeringAutomationFlight MechanicsMotor ControlAttitude ControlControl Surface EffectsControl System DesignFlight SimulationControl ConfigurationControlsFlight ConditionsFlight Control System SimulationMulti-degree-of-freedom ActuationSix-degree-of-freedom Motion ModelingSix-degree-of-freedom SimulationSix-degrees-of-freedom Motion
Unlike most simulators, this platform has no fixed ground axes, enabling realistic banking simulations by aligning control surfaces with the new attitude. The platform is intended to provide an elegant flight‑condition simulator for pilot training, and its design also lends itself to applications such as production automation. The mechanism features six degrees of freedom controlled by six motors with ground abutments, and the paper discusses various control arrangements and their design merits.
This paper describes a mechanism which has six degrees of freedom, controlled in any combination by six motors, each having a ground abutment. It is considered that by its particular arrangement, this mechanism may form an elegant design for simulating flight conditions in the training of pilots. Unlike most simulators, it has no fixed axes relative to the ground, and therefore within the limits of amplitude of the design it can truly simulate the conditions of banking by carrying the simulation of control surfaces into the axes of the new attitude. Variations in control arrangements are described and their respective design merits considered. Other possible uses for this mechanism are mentioned, including automation of production.