Wise, Kevin A. Boeing Phantom Works, The Boeing Company, St. Louis, Missouri.
- Basic concepts
- Modern control theory
- Helicopter and VTOL autopilots
- Missile autopilots
- Links to Primary Literature
- Additional Readings
An automatic means for steering an aircraft, ship, or other vehicle. The terminology means to automatically (autonomously) control a mode of the vehicle, usually its trajectory. Examples include altitude, speed, heading, accelerations, body rates, and attitude angles. The first aircraft autopilots were developed in the 1890s for experimental crewless aircraft, which were under development by Samuel Langley to prevent pilot injury. (Langley's Aerodrome Number 5 flew in 1896.) As air travel proliferated in the early 1900s, the primary use of an autopilot, or automatic pilot, was to provide pilot relief during cruise modes. In crewless aircraft and missiles, autopilots provide inner-loop control over the flight, receiving their commands from outer-loop guidance algorithms, which steer the vehicle, providing trajectory control. Autopilots now perform functions more rapidly and with greater precision than the human pilot. In many cases they are required to augment the stability of the vehicle. The functions, designs, and uses of autopilots vary widely depending on the type of vehicle. In addition to controlling various types of aircraft and spacecraft, autopilots are used to control ships or sea-based vehicles and in some cases land-based vehicles. In virtually all autopilot applications, a state of the vehicle is sensed, this state is compared to a commanded or desired value which will steer the vehicle, and the error is regulated. In cases where the vehicle's dynamics are unstable, the autopilot stabilizes the dynamics in addition to tracking guidance commands. This article discusses autopilots used in air vehicles.
The content above is only an excerpt.
for your institution. Subscribe
To learn more about subscribing to AccessScience, or to request a no-risk trial of this award-winning scientific reference for your institution, fill in your information and a member of our Sales Team will contact you as soon as possible.
to your librarian. Recommend
Let your librarian know about the award-winning gateway to the most trustworthy and accurate scientific information.
AccessScience provides the most accurate and trustworthy scientific information available.
Recognized as an award-winning gateway to scientific knowledge, AccessScience is an amazing online resource that contains high-quality reference material written specifically for students. Its dedicated editorial team is led by Sagan Award winner John Rennie. Contributors include more than 9000 highly qualified scientists and 42 Nobel Prize winners.
MORE THAN 8500 articles and Research Reviews covering all major scientific disciplines and encompassing the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology
115,000-PLUS definitions from the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms
3000 biographies of notable scientific figures
MORE THAN 17,000 downloadable images and animations illustrating key topics
ENGAGING VIDEOS highlighting the life and work of award-winning scientists
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY and additional readings to guide students to deeper understanding and research
LINKS TO CITABLE LITERATURE help students expand their knowledge using primary sources of information