Redundancy systems for small fly-by-wire vehicles

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a control and interface system, a flight control input for a small aircraft having a single power bus;
• generating, by the control and interface system, an actuator instruction for an actuator based on the flight control input;
• performing, by the control and interface system, a self-assessment of a first flight control computer;
• performing, by the control and interface system, an assessment of the first flight control computer by a second flight control computer;
• determining, by the control and interface system, based in part on the self-assessment and the assessment of the first flight control computer by the second flight control computer, a validity of the actuator instruction generated by the first flight control computer;
• and
• transmitting, by the control and interface system and in response to the actuator instruction being valid, the actuator instruction to the actuator.

A control and interface system comprising:

• a universal vehicle control interface for a fly-by-wire system for a small aircraft, the universal vehicle control interface configured to receive input commands from a pilot;
• and
• a universal 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 universal avionics control router is configured to:
• receive, via the universal vehicle control interface, a flight control input;
• generate, by each flight control computer of the universal avionics control router, actuator instructions for a plurality of 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 all other flight control computers of the universal avionics control router;
• determine, using a fully analyzable and testable voter in each channel, based in part 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 first flight control computer;
• and
• transmit, in response to the actuator instructions being valid, the actuator instructions to the plurality of actuators.