Redundancy systems for small fly-by-wire vehicles

A control and interface system comprising:

• a vehicle control interface for a fly-by-wire system for an aircraft, the vehicle control interface configured to receive input commands from a pilot;
• and
• an avionics control router comprising a plurality of flight control computers, each flight control computer being part of a channel including a motor for an actuator corresponding to each of a plurality of aircraft components, wherein the avionics control router is configured to:
• receive, via the vehicle control interface, a flight control input;
• generate, by each flight control computer of the avionics control router, actuator instructions for actuators in respective channels of the flight control computers based on the flight control input;
• perform, by each flight control computer, a self-assessment;
• perform, by each flight control computer, an assessment of other flight control computers of the avionics control router;
• determine, using a voter in each channel, based on the self-assessment and the assessment of each flight control computer by the other flight control computers, a validity of the actuator instructions generated by each flight control computer;
• and
• transmit, in response to the actuator instructions being valid, the actuator instructions to the actuators.

A method performed by an avionics control router comprising a plurality of flight control computers of an aircraft, each flight control computer being part of a channel including a motor for an actuator corresponding to each of a plurality of aircraft components, the method comprising:

• receiving, via a vehicle control interface of the aircraft, a flight control input;
• generating, by the plurality of flight control computer of the avionics control router, actuator instructions for actuators in respective channels of the flight control computers based on the flight control input;
• performing, by each flight control computer, a self-assessment;
• performing, by each flight control computer, an assessment of other flight control computers of the avionics control router;
• determining, using a voter in each channel, based on the self-assessment and the assessment of each flight control computer by the other flight control computers, a validity of the actuator instructions generated by each flight control computer;
• and
• transmitting, in response to the actuator instructions being valid, the actuator instructions to the actuators.