Modeling and Enhancement of General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon Missile Launching System Based on Petri Nets

This paper focuses on the use of Petri nets (PNs) to model a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon (F-16) missile launching system (MLS). The advances in digital computers and system-integration techniques have made the digitization of fight control computer systems possible. The fourth generation of fighters has used electronic digital signals to launch missiles. The most significant advantage of the digital MLS lies in its ability to cast without depending on the mechanical connecting rod. In other words, digital MLS will not break down due to mechanical failure. As a result, fighter pilots can better focus on their missions. A stable MLS is essential for launching missiles smoothly. Therefore, how to design one stable and easy-to-use MLS is important. In this paper, the authors tried to model and develop a stable MLS using the much easier-to-use Petri nets. One real-world digital MLS is used to verify the model. The experimental results using HPsim reveal that the designed model is correct and practical. Most importantly, the proposed model is much easier to use than the existing literature.