Control Development for Industry
Mike Lindsey
Ricardo, Shoreham Technical Centre
Abstract. The presentation introduces Ricardo activities in delivering engineering and technology programmes to the global automotive, transportation and energy industries. The Control and Electronics areas of Ricardo are summarised.
The Taxibot project, developed in co-operation with Israel Aerospace Industries, demonstrates a concept aimed at achieving substantial fuel efficiency improvements in commercial airliners by taxi-ing the aeroplane from stand to take-off location by an intelligent tug rather than the conventional aircraft engines. The presentation outlines the Taxibot project, its key technologies and achievements which include a physical demonstrator towing a Boeing 747 airliner. The control system was a particularly challenging part of the project and examples of some of the control problems and solutions are given.
