Hardware in loop simulation for aircraft arrester gear system

The aircraft arrester gear system is required to perform arrestment of various types of aircrafts in case of emergency landing and reject takeoff. The design of a single arresting gear system to accommodate a wide range of aircraft weights and speeds is a complex task and requires an electronic control system with sensors which sense the incoming aircraft type, its speed and adjusts the braking force accordingly. The main subsystems of the arrester gear are: (1) a tape and net assembly to arrest the aircraft on the runway, (2) control system and (3) an energy absorber system consisting of two energy absorbers, one on either side. The control system is required to perform controlled braking within the specified deceleration values so as to bring the aircraft to halt within the specified runout distance. During the system design it was required to verify the controller gain values which have been derived from the modelling and simulation of the arrester gear system. Hardware in loop simulation is a very effective technique for testing the control algorithm, embedded electronics & sensors and other available hardware in the absence of the actual system. For this purpose a hardware in loop simulation setup was developed where the control system and hydraulic system performance was evaluated using a model of the aircraft arrester gear to simulate the weights and velocities of the aircraft.