Glossary

The Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) concept prioritizes automated manufacturing equipment and/or cross-trained work teams that can make a variety of product or part configurations. From an equipment standpoint, an FMS is typically a group of computer-based machine tools with integrated material handling that is able to produce a family of similar parts.

A flight simulator is a system whose purpose is to copy, or to simulate, the experience of flying an aircraft, but without leaving the ground. The different types of flight simulator range from video games up to full-size cockpit replicas mounted on computer controlled actuators.

Flight simulators are extensively used for aerospace design and development and in aviation for the training of pilots and other flight deck crew in both civil and military aircraft.

A Fluid Flow Sensor measures the rate or amount of liquid, gas or vapor which goes past it. The same name is sometimes used for sensors which measure the flow rate of powdered solids.

Fly by wire is a method used to connect an aircraft pilot’s control inputs to the control surfaces and equipment of the aircraft. In a fly by wire system, control movements by the pilot are measured by sensors. The sensor readings are used by software running on flight control computers to calculate optimum adjustments to the aircraft’s control surfaces and systems. The flight control computers signal actuators to make the calculated changes.