Hello PDFers,
I have been (passively) reading Project Azm threads for quite a while now and this will by my first ever post on this forum as I have been an on and off reader of this forum since 2010.
PART A of the post would be to further discuss what
@JamD touched upon regarding flight controls and what others already mentioned on topics of skill-set.
Part B of this post will focus on physical supporting facilities / eco-system aspect in context of Flight Dynamics & Vehicle Control.
PART A:
The part will focus would be organizational aspect and skillset needed per team in what I call here “Directorate of Flight Dynamics and Vehicle Control” and it’s supporting eco-system/resources/facilities as a starting point, but plan on providing similar proposed structure to:
- Directorate of Flight Dynamics and Vehicle Control + Supporting Eco-System/Facilities (This post)
- Directorate of Aerodynamics and Airframe Design + Supporting Eco-System/Facilities
- Directorate of Aircraft Structure & Sub-System Design + Supporting Eco-System/Facilities
- Directorate of Aircraft Avionics & Tactical Mission Development + Supporting Eco-System/Facilities
- Directorate of Radar, Low Observability Aspects, and Electronic Development + Supporting Eco-System/Facilities
- Directorate of Armament & Weapons Integration + Supporting Eco-System/Facilities
- Directorate of Systems Engineering, Model Based Development & AGILE Methodology (Itself would be supporting facility for all of the above)
Not all teams/group are expected to
grow/conceive locally, but ALL teams shall be represented by combination of local and JV partner talent at PAC/
AvRID. There may be challenges in the initial phase of the program, but end goal should be local nature of these teams with JV talent on-site (assuming JV structure is utilized). This can open another discussion (which some have already alluded to regarding rotations of engineers with partner country/countries) in some another thread, but will be subject of detailed post at some point later.
Now back to this post’s topic.
Directorate of Flight Dynamics and Vehicle Control (like other Directorates) shall be four-layered organization Lead with following structure:
- Director
o Technical Project Manager
§ Team Lead
§ Subject Matter Experts
These technical teams may consist of 3-6 subject matter experts (including but not limited to engineers, applied physicists, scientists, hands-on technical support staff, and test pilots). The educational background of these subject matter experts in this Directorate can range from 2-years Associate/Diploma and up to PhD. The key is NOT to dwell on to find a person with only Masters/PhD or finding the BEST person.
The key is to find the RIGHT person, and make him/her right person by rapid training through combination of targeted theoretical studies in short courses and hands on experiential training (in rotations with JV partners).
However, most of the high level technical staff (specifically in Vehicle FCS, Propulsion Controls team) will likely have advanced degrees and must have specific training/experience in their respective areas.
The
Directorate of Flight Dynamics and Vehicle Controls shall have following structure:
-
Vehicle FCS, Propulsion Controls Development & Integration
o Aircraft Dynamic Behavior Modeling & Simulation Team
o Flight Control Law Development Team
o FADEC Control Law Team (e.g. Xian WS-15 FADEC Local Team )
o Aero-elasticity / Structure Static-Dynamic Limits Team
-
Applied Controls & SW Development
o Embedded Controls Implementation SW Team
o Flight Controls / Engine Controls Computer HW Team
o FCS SW/HW Verification & Validation Team
-
Fly-By-X & Actuators Integration
o Fly-by-X HMI Input Team
o Fly-by-X Network Architecture / Wiring Team
o On-Board FCS Sensor Team
o On-Board FCS Actuator HW Team
o FCS Actuators Modeling, Simulation & Testing Team
-
Flight Test Support
o Flight Test Instrumentation
o Flight Vehicle Data Acquisition/Recording and Telemetry Team
Another support role to this Directorate would be coming from
Vehicle Handling Qualities Evaluation Team (should be conceived/raised if not available) from Flight Test & Evaluation Squadron (Or whatever it’s called) from Pakistan Air Force. Vehicle Handling Qualities team should contain several highly qualified and certified test pilots with advanced degrees in engineering and flight control law, aero-elasticity, aircraft stability concepts. They should work in close collaboration with Vehicle FCS, Propulsion Controls Development & Integration Team. Furthermore, VHQE Team should be adept to latest developments flight Handling qualities criteria and recommendations, literatures across the world (as published by FAA, NASA, US DoD for example).
Here below is the proposed structure of this Directorate.
View attachment 637146
Part B to follow later...
@Armchair @JamD @Bilal Khan (Quwa) @CriticalThought .