5: Aircraft instruments and systems

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In this chapter the goal is to give a brief overview of the different instruments, systems, and subsystems that one can find in a typical aircraft. First, in Section 5.1, the focus will be on instruments. Notice that modern aircraft are becoming more sophisticated and classical instruments are being substituted by electronic displays. Aircraft systems will be briefly analyzed in Section 5.2. Again, many elements of classical mechanical (pneumatic, hydraulic) systems are being substituted by electronics. Thus, in modern terminology, the discipline that encompasses instruments (as electronic displays) and electronic systems is referred to as avionics. An introductory reference is Franchini et al. [1], in which this chapter is inspired. Thorough references on aircraft systems are Moir and Seabridge [4], Kossiakoff et al. [2], Tooley and Wyatt [5], and Langton et al. [3].