Design and reliability prediction of a distributed landing gear control system

Abstract

Purpose

Proper function of landing gear plays a crucial role in the safe operation of an airplane. Traditional landing gear control system utilizes centralized control technology. The relatively heavy wire harness and low reliability accompanied with this technology make it logical to transfer from traditional control to real‐time distributed control. This paper aims to look into a new landing gear control system based on time‐triggered architecture (TTA).

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, a new landing gear control system based on TTA is proposed. The reliability of the proposed system is investigated using a combination of Markov analysis and MIL‐HDBK‐217 methods.

Findings

The results show that by integration of TTP/C and TTP/A technologies, the advantages of both are achieved. A very high level of reliability is obtained. This increases the confidence when adopting distributed landing gear control technology.

Originality/value

The paper presents a new landing gear control system based on TTA, the reliability of which is very high.

Citation

Lu, L. and Lei, J. (2010), "Design and reliability prediction of a distributed landing gear control system", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 82 No. 1, pp. 15-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/00022661011028074