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The Fly-By-Light Advanced Systems Hardware (FLASH) program developed Fly-By-Light (FBL) and Power-By-Wire (PBW) technologies for military and commercial aircraft. FLASH consisted of three tasks. Task 1 developed the fiber optic cable, connectors, testers and installation and maintenance procedures. Task 3 developed advanced smart, rotary thin wing and electro-hydrostatic (EHA) actuators. Task 2, which is the subject of this paper, focused on integration of fiber optic sensors and data buses with cable plant components from Task 1 and actuators from Task 3 into centralized and distributed flight control systems. Open loop and piloted hardware-in-the-loop demonstrations validated readiness for application transition.

The Fly-By-Light Advanced Systems Hardware (FLASH) program is developing Fly-By-Light (FBL) and Power-By-Wire (PBW) technologies for military and commercial aircraft. The flight control system portion of FLASH focuses on the integration of fiber optic sensors, optic data buses, actuators (PBW, smart, rotary thin wing) and optic cable plant components for centralized and distributed flight control architectures. Laboratory demonstrations will show applicability to widebody commercial transport and military tactical aircraft. This paper summarizes the requirements, objectives, key technologies and demonstration configurations of each of three FLASH flight control system developments.