Action models (also known as Flight Directors) are the top-most models in an ACS, ultimately rooted in Sensor data and flight Objectives. Action models are used to update displays and manipulate Effectors.
Usually, each action model corresponds to an error model, spanning the dimensions of dimensions of vertical, lateral and longitudinal control, but where Terrain following is dealt with independently. Values that are needed in order to direct flight typically include:
In Avionics Control Systems, most actions are represented as sets of desired effector settings (on/off values, categorical choices, numerical levels, etc) of mechanical components, tailored to the particular kinds of effectors contained on the aircraft.
Maintain attributes representing desired effector settings, in a form useful for Effecting flight. Partition common logical effector settings into common groupings, normally resulting in a bundle of submodels rather than a single action model. In addition to Error Model values, arrange inputs from Navigation Models, from Monitoring and Control, and/or directly from simple Sensors to determine if effectors are enabled and available for manipulation, and invoke associated Action Functions to compute associated action values and Update attributes.