UK researchers win prize for AI-modified flight controller

Prof Paul Stewart and Dr Jill Stewart from the School of Engineering, in collaboration with Dr Dan Gladwin from the University of Sheffield, have been awarded the Charles Sharpe Beecher Prize by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) for their efforts in developing a modified controller for the F-16, a single-engined, supersonic, multi-role tactical aircraft.

The F-16 was designed to be a combat ’workhorse’ that could perform various kinds of missions and maintain around-the-clock readiness. It is much smaller and lighter than its predecessors, but uses advanced aerodynamics and avionics, including the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire (RSS/FBW) flight-control system, to achieve enhanced manoeuvre performance.

The modified fuzzy-logic controller developed by the team — whose membership functions are tuned by genetic algorithms in order to control roll, pitch and yaw — aims to enhance the performance of the existing flight controller to reduce pilot fatigue during extended combat flight manoeuvres.