Adaptive fault‐tolerant control for a class of output‐constrained nonlinear systems

In this work, by incorporating a tan‐type barrier Lyapunov function into the Lyapunov function design, we present a novel adaptive fault‐tolerant control (FTC) scheme for a class of output‐constrained multi‐input single‐output nonlinear systems with actuator failures under the perturbation of both parametric and nonparametric system uncertainties. We show that under the proposed adaptive FTC scheme, exponential convergence of the output tracking error into a small set around zero is guaranteed, while the constraint requirement on the system output will not be violated during operation. In the end, two illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed FTC scheme. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive decentralized finite‐time output tracking control for MIMO interconnected nonlinear systems with output constraints and actuator faults

In this work, we present a novel adaptive decentralized finite‐time fault‐tolerant control algorithm for a class of multi‐input–multi‐output interconnected nonlinear systems with output constraint requirements for each vertex. The actuator for each system can be subject to unknown multiplicative and additive faults. Parametric system uncertainties that model the system dynamics for each vertex can be effectively dealt with by the proposed control scheme. The control input gain functions of the nonlinear systems can be not fully known and state dependent. Backstepping design with a tan‐type barrier Lyapunov function and a new structure of stabilizing function is presented. We show that under the proposed control scheme, with the use of graph theory, finite‐time convergence of the system output tracking error into a small set around zero is guaranteed for each vertex, while the time‐varying constraint requirement on the system output tracking error for each vertex will not be violated during operation. An illustrative example on 2 interacting 2‐degree‐of‐freedom robot manipulators is presented in the end to further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.     

Adaptive logic‐based switching fault‐tolerant controller design for nonlinear uncertain systems

This paper deals with the problem of fault‐tolerant control (FTC) for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems against actuator faults using adaptive logic‐based switching control method. The uncertainties under consideration are assumed to be dominated by a bounding system which is linear in growth in the unmeasurable states but can be a continuous function of the system output, with unknown growth rates. Several types of common actuator faults, e.g., bias, loss‐of‐effectiveness, stuck and hard‐over faults are integrated by a unified fault model. By utilizing a novel adaptive logic‐based switching control scheme, the actuator faults can be detected and automatically accommodated by switching from the stuck actuator to the healthy or even partly losing‐effectiveness one with bias, in the presence of large parametric uncertainty. In particular, two switching logics for updating the gain in the output feedback controllers are designed to ensure the global stability of the nominal (fault‐free) system and the boundedness of all closed‐loop signals of the faulty system, respectively. Two simulation examples of an aircraft wing model and a single‐link flexible‐joint robot are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed FTC controller. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Iterative learning control for output‐constrained nonlinear systems with input quantization and actuator faults

In this work, we propose a novel iterative learning control algorithm to deal with a class of nonlinear systems with system output constraint requirements and quantization effects on the system control input. Actuator faults have also been considered, which include multiplicative, additive, and stuck actuator faults. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported work in the iterative learning control literature to deal with quantization effects for the control input of nonlinear systems under the effects of actuator faults and system output constraints. Under the proposed scheme, using backstepping design and composite energy function approaches in the analysis, we show that uniform convergence of the state tracking errors can be guaranteed over the iteration domain, and the constraint requirement on the system output will not be violated at all time. In the end, a simulation study on a single‐link robot model is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Integrated fault estimation and fault‐tolerant control for uncertain Lipschitz nonlinear systems

This paper proposes an integrated fault estimation and fault‐tolerant control (FTC) design for Lipschitz non‐linear systems subject to uncertainty, disturbance, and actuator/sensor faults. A non‐linear unknown input observer without rank requirement is developed to estimate the system state and fault simultaneously, and based on these estimates an adaptive sliding mode FTC system is constructed. The observer and controller gains are obtained together via H_∞ optimization with a single‐step linear matrix inequality (LMI) formulation so as to achieve overall optimal FTC system design. A single‐link manipulator example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel MPC‐Based Fault Tolerant Tracking Control Against Sensor Faults

The problem of active fault‐tolerant tracking control with control input and system output constraints is studied for a class of discrete‐time systems subject to sensor faults. A time‐varying fault‐tolerant observer is first developed to estimate the real system state from the faulty sensor output and control input signals. Then by using the estimated state at each time step, a model predictive control (MPC)‐based fault‐tolerant tracking control scheme is presented to guarantee the desired tracking performance and the given input and output constraints on the faulty system. In comparison with many existing fault‐tolerant MPC methods, its main contribution is that the proposed state estimator is designed by the simple and online numerical computation to tolerate the possible sensor faults, so that the regular MPC algorithm without fault information can be adopted for the online calculation of fault‐tolerant control signal. The potential recursive infeasibility and computational complexity due to the faults are avoided in the scheme. Additionally, the closed‐loop stability of the post‐fault system is discussed. Simulative results of an electric throttle control system verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Adaptive decentralized fault‐tolerant tracking control for large‐scale nonlinear systems with input quantization

In this paper, an adaptive decentralized tracking control scheme is designed for large‐scale nonlinear systems with input quantization, actuator faults, and external disturbance. The nonlinearities, time‐varying actuator faults, and disturbance are assumed to exist unknown upper and lower bounds. Then, an adaptive decentralized fault‐tolerant tracking control method is designed without using backstepping technique and neural networks. In the proposed control scheme, adaptive mechanisms are used to compensate the effects of unknown nonlinearities, input quantization, actuator faults, and disturbance. The designed adaptive control strategy can guarantee that all the signals of each subsystem are bounded and the tracking errors of all subsystems converge asymptotically to zero. Finally, simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the designed approach.     

Adaptive fault‐tolerant control for feedback linearizable systems with an aircraft application

This paper investigates fault‐tolerant control (FTC) for feedback linearizable systems (FLSs) and its applications. The dynamic effects caused by the actuator faults on the feedback linearized model are firstly analyzed, which reveals that under actuator faults, the control input in the linearized model is affected by uncertain terms. In the framework of model reference control, the first FTC strategy is proposed as a robust controller, which achieves asymptotic tracking control of the FLS under actuator faults. A disadvantage of this strategy is that it relies on explicit information about several parameters in the actuator faults. This requirement is later relaxed by combining the robust FTC strategy with an adaptive technique to generate the adaptive FTC law, which is then improved to alleviate possible chattering of the actuator and estimation drifting of the adaptive parameter. Finally, the proposed FTC strategies are evaluated by reference command tracking control of a pendulum and an air‐breathing hypersonic vehicle under actuator faults. Simulation results demonstrate good tracking performance, which confirms effectiveness of the proposed strategies. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributed reliable H∞ consensus control for a class of multi‐agent systems under switching networks: A topology‐based average dwell time approach

This paper investigates the problem of distributed reliable H_∞ consensus control for high‐order networked agent systems with actuator faults and switching undirected topologies. The Lipschitz nonlinearities, several types of actuator faults, and exogenous disturbances are considered in subsystems. Suppose the communication network of the multi‐agent systems may switch among finite connected graphs. By utilizing the relative state information of neighbors, a new distributed adaptive reliable consensus protocol is presented for actuator failure compensations in individual nodes. Note that the Lyapunov function for error systems may not decrease as the communication network is time‐varying; as a result, the existing distributed adaptive control technique cannot be applied directly. To overcome this difficulty, the topology‐based average dwell time approach is introduced to deal with switching jumps. By applying topology‐based average dwell time approach and Lyapunov theory, the distributed controller design condition is given in terms of LMIs. It is shown that the proposed scheme can guarantee that the reliable H_∞ consensus problem is solvable in the presence actuator faults and external disturbance. Finally, two numerical examples are given the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive finite‐time fault‐tolerant tracking control for a class of MIMO nonlinear systems with output constraints

In this work, we present a novel adaptive finite‐time fault‐tolerant control algorithm for a class of multi‐input multi‐output nonlinear systems with constraint requirement on the system output tracking error. Both parametric and nonparametric system uncertainties can be effectively dealt with by the proposed control scheme. The gain functions of the nonlinear systems under discussion, especially the control input gain function, can be not fully known and state‐dependent. Backstepping design with a tan‐type barrier Lyapunov function and a new structure of stabilizing function is presented. We show that under the proposed control scheme, finite‐time convergence of the output tracking error into a small set around zero is guaranteed, while the constraint requirement on the system output tracking error will not be violated during operation. An illustrative example on a robot manipulator model is presented in the end to further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive finite‐time neural backstepping control for multi‐input and multi‐output state‐constrained nonlinear systems using tangent‐type nonlinear mapping

This article focuses on the problem of adaptive finite‐time neural backstepping control for multi‐input and multi‐output nonlinear systems with time‐varying full‐state constraints and uncertainties. A tan‐type nonlinear mapping function is first proposed to convert the strict‐feedback system into a new pure‐feedback one without constraints. Neural networks are utilized to cope with unknown functions. To improve learning performance, a composite adaptive law is designed using tracking error and approximate error. A finite‐time convergent differentiator is adopted to avoid the problem of “explosion of complexity.” By theoretical analysis, all the signals of system are proved to be bounded, the outputs can track the desired signals in a finite time, and full‐state constraints are not transgressed. Finally, comparative simulations are offered to confirm the validity of the proposed control scheme.     

Robust adaptive DSC of directly input‐coupled nonlinear systems with input unmodeled dynamics and time‐varying output constraints

In this paper, an adaptive robust dynamic surface control is proposed for a class of uncertain nonlinear interconnected systems with time‐varying output constraints and dynamic input and output coupling. The directly coupled inputs and control inputs are both of nonlinear input unmodeled dynamics. To counteract the instable impact of the nonlinear input unmodeled dynamics, normalization signals are designed on the basis of the convergence rates of their Lyapunov functions. With new state variables and control variables being defined, the real control inputs are obtained through solving the equations of intermediate control laws. The time‐varying constraints on output signals are implemented by introducing asymmetric barrier Lyapunov functions. In addition, dynamic signals and decentralized K‐filters are used to deal with the state unmodeled dynamics and to estimate the unmeasurable states, respectively. By the theoretical analysis, the signals in the closed‐loop system are proved to be semi‐globally uniformly ultimately bounded, and the output constraints are guaranteed simultaneously. A numerical example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sliding‐mode fault‐tolerant control using the control allocation scheme

This paper is devoted to the design of a novel fault‐tolerant control (FTC) using the combination of a robust sliding‐mode control (SMC) strategy and a control allocation (CA) algorithm, referred to as a CA‐based sliding‐mode FTC (SMFTC). The proposed SMFTC can also be considered a modular‐design control strategy. In this approach, first, a high‐level SMC, designed without detailed knowledge of systems' actuators/effectors, commands a vector of virtual control signals to meet the overall control objectives. Then, a CA algorithm distributes the virtual control efforts among the healthy actuators/effectors using the real‐time information obtained from a fault detection and reconstruction mechanism. As the underlying system is not assumed to have a rank‐deficient input matrix, the control allocator module is visible to the SMC module resulting in an uncertainty. Hence, the virtual control, in this scheme, is designed to be robust against uncertainties emanating from the visibility of the control allocator to the controller and imperfections in the estimated effectiveness gain. The proposed CA‐based SMFTC scheme is a unified FTC, which does not need to reconfigure the control system in the case of actuator fault or failure. Additionally, to cope with actuator saturation limits, a novel redistributed pseudoinverse‐based CA mechanism is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed schemes is discussed with a numerical example.     

Robust Actuator‐Fault‐Tolerant Control System Based on Sliding‐Mode Observer for Thrust‐Vectoring Aircrafts

In this paper, a robust actuator‐fault‐tolerant control (FTC) system is proposed for thrust‐vectoring aircraft (TVA) control. To this end, a TVA model with actuator fault dynamics, disturbances, and uncertain aerodynamic parameters is described, and a local fault detection and identification (FDI) mechanism is proposed to locate and identify faults, which utilizes an adaptive sliding‐mode observer (SMO) to detect actuator faults and two SMOs to identify and estimate their parameters. Finally, a fault‐tolerant controller is designed to compensate for these actuator faults, disturbances, and uncertain aerodynamic parameters; the approach combines back‐stepping control with fault parameters and a high‐order SMO. Furthermore, the stability of the entire control system is validated, and simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and potential for this robust FTC system.     

Robust Tracking Control Of The Variable Stiffness Actuator Based On The Lever Mechanism

This paper is concerned with the design of a robust adaptive tracking control scheme for a class of variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) based on the lever mechanisms. For these VSAs based on the lever mechanisms, the AwAS‐II developed at Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is chosen as the study object, and it is an enhanced version of the original realization AwAS (actuator with adjustable stiffness). Firstly, for the dynamic model of the AwAS‐II system in the presence of parametric uncertainties, unknown bounded friction torques, unknown bounded external disturbance and input saturation constraints, by using the coordinate transformations and the static state feedback linearization, the state space model of the AwAS‐II system with composite disturbances and input saturation constraints is transformed into an uncertain multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) linear system with lumped disturbances and input saturation constraints. Subsequently, a combination of the feedback linearization, disturbance observer, sliding mode control and adaptive input saturation compensation law is adopted for the design of the robust tracking controller that simultaneously regulates the position and stiffness of the AwAS‐II system. Under the proposed controller, the semi‐global uniformly ultimately bounded stability of the closed‐loop system has been proved via Lyapunov stability analysis. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed robust adaptive tracking control scheme.     

Robust Fault‐Tolerant Control of Launch Vehicle Via GPI Observer and Integral Sliding Mode Control

A robust fault‐tolerant attitude control scheme is proposed for a launch vehicle (LV) in the presence of unknown external disturbances, mismodeling dynamics, actuator faults, and actuator's constraints. The input‐output representation is employed to describe the rotational dynamics of LV rendering three independently decoupled second order single‐input‐single‐output (SISO) systems. In the differential algebraic framework, general proportional integral (GPI) observers are used for the estimations of the states and of the generalized disturbances, which include internal perturbations, external disturbances, and unknown actuator failures. In order to avoid the defects of the conventional sliding surface, a new nonlinear integral sliding manifold is introduced for the robust fault‐tolerant sliding mode controller design. The stability of the GPI observer and that of the closed‐loop system are guaranteed by Lyapunov's indirect and direct methods, respectively. The convincing numerical simulation results demonstrate the proposed control scheme is with high attitude tracking performance in the presence of various disturbances, actuator faults, and actuator constraints.     

Adaptive fault-tolerant control for a class of flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles

In this paper, a novel adaptive fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme is proposed for a class of flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles with unknown inertial and aerodynamic parameters and even input constraints. The fault model under consideration covers the case that all actuators suffer from unknown time-varying faults. In the controller design and stability analysis, we introduce new Lyapunov functions, some differentiable auxiliary functions, a bound estimation approach, and a Nussbaum function, which help us successfully circumvent the obstacle caused by the faults, input constraints, and flexible modes. In addition to higher reliability, the proposed scheme is able to ensure that all closed-loop signals are globally uniformly bounded and to steer the tracking errors of altitude and velocity into predefined arbitrarily small residual sets. As a result, the tracking accuracy can be designated in advance. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Adaptive Fault‐Tolerant Attitude Tracking Control of Rigid Spacecraft on Lie Group with Fixed‐Time Convergence

This paper investigates the fixed‐time attitude tracking problem for rigid spacecraft in the presence of inertial uncertainties, external disturbances, actuator faults, and input saturation constraints. The logarithm map is first utilized to transform the tracking problem on SO(3) into the stabilization one on its associated Lie algebra ( ). A novel nonsingular fixed‐time‐based sliding mode is designed, which not only avoids the singularity but also guarantees that the convergence time of tracking errors along the sliding surface is independent of the state value. Then, an adaptive fault‐tolerant control law is constructed, in which an online adaptive law is incorporated to estimate the upper boundary of the lumped uncertainties. The combined control scheme enforces the system state to reach a neighborhood of the sliding surface in the sense of the fixed‐time concept. The key feature of the resulting control scheme is that it can accommodate actuator failures under limited control torque without the knowledge of fault information. Numerical simulations are finally performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fixed‐time controllers.     

Fault tolerant control using virtual actuator for continuous‐time Lipschitz nonlinear systems

In this brief, we extend the existing results on fault tolerant control via virtual actuator approach to a class of systems with Lipschitz nonlinearities to maintain the closed‐loop stability after actuator faults. This generalization is established by relying on the input‐to‐state stability properties of cascaded systems. The virtual actuator block, placed between faulty plant and nominal controller, generates useful input signals for faulty plant by using output signals of the nominal controller to guarantee the closed‐loop stability in the presence of actuator faults. This design problem is reduced to a matrix inequality that can be turned to an LMI by fixing a variable to a constant value and solving the resulting LMI feasibility problem. The proposed fault tolerant control method is successfully evaluated using a nonlinear system. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive stabilization of nonlinear teleoperation systems: An SIIOS approach

In this paper, the adaptive control problem of nonlinear teleoperation system based on the point of view of state‐independent input‐to‐output stability is addressed. By intentionally introducing the switched filter systems, a new IOS‐based control framework based on subsystem decomposition is developed. By designing the proper nonlinear controller, the complete closed‐loop system is first modeled into two interconnected subsystems with some well‐defined auxiliary variables. Then utilizing the small gain theorem, the weakly state‐independent input‐to‐output stability of complete system can be derived by the stability of each subsystem. As an important extension, the proposed control scheme is also proved to be suitable for the control of the single‐master‐multi‐slave teleoperation systems. Finally, the numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.