Fiber optic position transducers for aircraft controls
W. L. Glomb · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1991
This talk reviews the fifteen-year development of fiber-optic position transducers for aircraft controls (Refs. 1-7). First the design of a modern digital electronic aircraft control system is presented to show that position transducers are the most numerous type of sensor on an aircraft. Performance requirements for position transducers on aircraft are then reviewed. These include accuracy, resolution, range, bandwidth, slew rate, size, reliability, and cost. Then the variety of presently available fiber-optic position transducer technologies are reviewed. These include digital optical code plates, analog optical code plates, chirped diffraction gratings, macrobend loss coils, polarizers, interferometers, and optically powered electronic sensors. The performance of these various technologies are compared and flight test experience is reviewed. In conclusion, prospects for installation of these transducers into aircraft of the 1990's are discussed.