This 33-second video taken in 2003 shows the highly-modified F-15B #837 flying the Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS) software during a flight test over California's Mojave Desert.
The IFCS flight research project at NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center was established to exploit a revolutionary technological breakthrough in aircraft flight controls that could efficiently optimize aircraft performance in both normal and failure conditions. IFCS was designed to incorporate self-learning neural network concepts into flight control software to enable a pilot to maintain control and safely land an aircraft that has suffered a failure to a control surface or damage to the airframe.
Major control surface or airframe damage hinders an aircraft flight control system's design integrity, rendering traditional fixed control systems virtually worthless. The IFCS team integrated innovative neural network technologies with state-of-the-art control algorithms to correctly identify and respond to changes in aircraft stability and control characteristics, and immediately adjust to maintain the best possible flight performance during an unexpected failure. The adaptive neural network software "learns" the new flight characteristics, on-board and in real time, thereby helping the pilot to maintain or regain control and prevent a potentially catastrophic aircraft accident.
The primary goal of the project was to develop adaptive and fault-tolerant flight control systems leading to unprecedented levels of safety and survivability for civil and military aircraft. The IFCS project was representative of the type of flight research conducted by NASA to explore new control technologies, blending intelligent flight controls with adaptive airframe structures to expand aircraft performance and capabilities.
The IFCS testbed aircraft was a highly-modified McDonnell Douglas NF-15B Eagle that was formerly flown in the Advanced Control Technology for Integrated Vehicles project at NASA Dryden from 1996 through 1999.
To learn more about the IFCS project visit: [ Ссылка ]
