MEASURING LOAD, DISPLACEMENT ON AN AIRCRAFT COMPONENT USING A MICROWAVE BEAM

摘要

The load on an aircraft component, such as the load on a landing gear leg during braking, is measured with a contactless, all-weather displacement measuring system. The system includes a control unit a controllable microwave emitter of electromagnetic radiation and a microwave detector comprising a plurality of antennae. When the aircraft component is subjected to a load relative movement of the emitter and detector is caused. The detector generates in response to microwave radiation received from the focused beam of radiation emitted by the emitter a signal that is received by a signal processor of the control unit. The signal received by the control unit depends on the relative positions of the emitter and detector. The control unit is arranged to provide an output signal representative of the load sustained by the aircraft component. The system may be used to control braking in dependence on the output signal so as to maximize braking efficiency without overloading the landing gear leg.