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A system and method of mitigating a force fight between hydraulically-operated actuators that are coupled to a single flight control surface is provided. The differential fluid pressure across each hydraulically-operated actuator is sensed. The position of a user interface is sensed using a pluralit

A system and method of mitigating a force fight between hydraulically-operated actuators that are coupled to a single flight control surface is provided. The differential fluid pressure across each hydraulically-operated actuator is sensed. The position of a user interface is sensed using a plurality of user interface position sensors. Flight control surface position is sensed using one or more position sensors. The sensed differential pressures, the sensed user interface positions, and the sensed flight control surface position are used to generate a plurality of substantially equal actuator commands.

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1. A flight control surface actuation system, comprising: a plurality of differential pressure (DP) sensors, each DP sensor configured to sense a differential fluid pressure across a hydraulically-operated actuator and supply a differential pressure signal representative of the sensed differential f

1. A flight control surface actuation system, comprising: a plurality of differential pressure (DP) sensors, each DP sensor configured to sense a differential fluid pressure across a hydraulically-operated actuator and supply a differential pressure signal representative of the sensed differential fluid pressure;a plurality of user interface sensors, each user interface sensor configured to sense movement of a user interface and supply a position command signal representative of the sensed movement;a position sensor configured to sense flight control surface position and supply a flight control surface position signal representative of the sensed flight control surface position;a flight control module coupled to receive the differential pressure signals, the position command signals, and the flight control surface position signal, the flight control module configured to process these signals and generate a plurality of force fight command signals; anda plurality of actuator controls, each actuator control coupled to receive one of the force fight command signals and one of the position command signals and configured, in response to these signals, to supply a plurality of substantially equal actuator commands,wherein the flight control module comprises a force fight mitigation function that comprises: a DP averaging function coupled to receive the differential pressure signals and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a value representative of an average of the sensed differential fluid pressures;a plurality of subtraction functions, each subtraction function coupled to receive one of the differential fluid pressure signals and the value representative of the average of the sensed differential fluid pressures and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a plurality of differential fluid pressure offsets;a plurality of proportional-plus-integral (PI) control paths, each PI control path coupled to receive one of the differential fluid pressure offsets and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a differential pressure equalization output signal;a position command averaging function coupled to receive the position command signals and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a value representative of an average of the position command signals;a plurality of gains, each gain coupled to receive the flight control surface position signal and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply an actuator surface position equalization command signal; andmathematical logic coupled to receive the differential pressure equalization output signals, the value representative of the average of the position command signals, and the actuator surface position equalization command signals and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply the plurality of force fight command signals. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein: the flight control module supplies a first force fight command signal and a second force fight command signal; andthe first and second force fight command signals are equal in magnitude and opposite in sign. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein: the flight control module supplies a first force fight command signal, a second force fight command signal, and a third force fight command signal; andthe first, second, and third force fight command signals mathematically sum to zero. 4. The system of claim 3, wherein: the sum of two of the force fight command signals will be equal in magnitude and opposite in sign to that of the remaining force fight command signal. 5. A flight control surface actuation system, comprising: a plurality of hydraulically-operated actuators, each actuator coupled to receive an actuator command and adapted to receive a flow of hydraulic fluid, each actuator configured, upon receipt of the actuator command, to move a flight control surface to a position;a plurality of differential pressure (DP) sensors, each DP sensor configured to sense a differential fluid pressure across one of the hydraulically-operated actuator and supply a differential pressure signal representative of the sensed differential fluid pressure;an inceptor configured to receive user input and, upon receipt of the user input, to move to a control position;a plurality of user interface sensors, each user interface sensor configured to sense movement of the inceptor and supply a position command signal representative of the control position;a position sensor configured to sense the position of the flight control surface and supply a flight control surface position signal representative thereof;a flight control module coupled to receive the differential pressure signals, the position command signals, and the flight control surface position signal, the flight control module configured to process these signals and generate a plurality of force fight command signals for supply to the actuators; anda plurality of actuator controls, each actuator control coupled to receive one of the force fight command signals and one of the position command signals and configured, in response to these signals, to supply a plurality of substantially equal actuator commands,wherein the flight control module comprises a force fight mitigation function that comprises: a DP averaging function coupled to receive the differential pressure signals and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a value representative of an average of the sensed differential fluid pressures;a plurality of subtraction functions, each subtraction function coupled to receive one of the differential fluid pressure signals and the value representative of the average of the sensed differential fluid pressures and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a plurality of differential fluid pressure offsets;a plurality of proportional-plus-integral (PI) control paths, each PI control path coupled to receive one of the differential fluid pressure offsets and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a differential pressure equalization output signal;a position command averaging function coupled to receive the position command signals and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply a value representative of an average of the position command signals;a plurality of gains, each gain coupled to receive the flight control surface position signal and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply an actuator surface position equalization command signal; andmathematical logic coupled to receive the differential pressure equalization output signals, the value representative of the average of the position command signals, and the actuator surface position equalization command signals and configured, upon receipt thereof, to supply the plurality of force fight command signals. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein: the flight control module supplies a first force fight command signal and a second force fight command signal; andthe first and second force fight command signals are equal in magnitude and opposite in sign. 7. The system of claim 5, wherein: the flight control module supplies a first force fight command signal, a second force fight command signal, and a third force fight command signal; andthe first, second, and third force fight command signals mathematically sum to zero. 8. The system of claim 7, wherein: the sum of two of the force fight command signals will be equal in magnitude and opposite in sign to that of the remaining force fight command signal. 9. A method of mitigating a force fight between hydraulically-operated actuators that are coupled to a single flight control surface, the method comprising the steps of: sensing differential fluid pressure across each hydraulically-operated actuator;sensing a position of a user interface using a plurality of user interface position sensors;sensing flight control surface position using one or more position sensors;generating a plurality of force fight command signals from the sensed differential pressures, the sensed user interface positions, and the sensed flight control surface position; andcombining each of the force fight command signals with one of the sensed user interface positions to generate a plurality of substantially equal actuator commands,wherein the step of generating the plurality of force fight command signals comprises: determining an average of the sensed differential fluid pressures;subtracting each of the sensed differential fluid pressures from the determined average of the sensed differential fluid pressures, to thereby generate a plurality of differential fluid pressure offsets;processing each of the differential fluid pressure offsets through a proportional-plus-integral (PI) control path, to thereby generate differential pressure equalization output signals;determining an average of the sensed user interface positions;generating a plurality of actuator surface position equalization commands from the flight control surface position signal; andgenerating the plurality of force fight command signals from the differential pressure equalization output signals, the average of the sensed user interface positions, and the actuator surface position equalization command signals. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein: the plurality of force fight command signals comprise a first force fight command signal and a second force fight command signal; andthe first and second force fight command signals are equal in magnitude and opposite in sign. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein: the plurality of force fight command signals comprise a first force fight command signal, a second force fight command signal, and a third force fight command signal; andthe first, second, and third force fight command signals mathematically sum to zero. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein: the sum of two of the force fight command signals will be equal in magnitude and opposite in sign to that of the remaining force fight command signal.