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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 92 - Dayton - October 2003
Agenda Location	9 SUBCOMMITTEE A – AERONAUTIC AND SURFACE VEHICLES 9.3 F8 Digital FBW Development
Title	F8 Digital FBW Development
Presenter	Ken Szalai
Available Downloads*	none
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Abstract	The F-8DFBW program was a link between the Space Program of the 1960's and the Aeronautics Program of the 1970's. A contribution of the F-8 DFBW aircraft flight program was that it was certainly a milestone in flight. It was the first true fly-by-wire and the first true digital fly-by-wire without any mechanical back-up. Another role of the F-8DFBW program was as a prolific and productive flight research facility. After the first flight of the F-8 on May 25, 1972, the program engineers developed a Fault-Tolerant Triplex DFBW System in 1976, which pioneered techniques in sensor, computer, and actuator redundancy management. Research was done in analytic redundancy management with Langley, the Draper Lab and with MIT. We also conducted experiments using real-time parameter identification. We did work on side stick force control and a resident back-up software system. Finally the F-8 was a link back to the Space Program. It was a pathfinder for the AAP-101 flight computer. We found some problems with the computer, but it led to a better computer that ultimately went into the Space Shuttle. The F-8 also tested shuttle software modules and control time delay effects.