Automatic Flight Control Systems (Synthesis Lectures on Mechanical Engineering)

This book provides readers with a design approach to the automatic flight control systems (AFCS). The AFCS is the primary on-board tool for long flight operations, and is the foundation for the airspace modernization initiatives. In this text, AFCS and autopilot are employed interchangeably. It presents fundamentals of AFCS/autopilot, including primary subsystems, dynamic modeling, AFCS categories/functions/modes, servos/actuators, measurement devices, requirements, functional block diagrams, design techniques, and control laws.