Observer‐based fault‐tolerant control of hypersonic scramjet vehicles in the presence of actuator faults and saturation

An adaptive sliding mode observer (SMO)–based fault‐tolerant control method taking into consideration of actuator saturation is proposed for a hypersonic scramjet vehicle (HSV) under a class of time‐varying actuator faults. The SMO is designed to robustly estimate the HSV states and reconstruct the fault signals. The adaptive technique is integrated into the SMO to approximate the unknown bounds of system uncertainties, actuator faults, and estimation errors. The robust SMO synthesis condition, which can be formulated as a set of linear matrix inequalities, is improved by relaxing structure constraints to the Lyapunov matrix. An anti‐windup feedback control law, which utilizes the estimated HSV states and the fault signals, is designed to counteract the negative effects of actuator saturation induced by actuator faults. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach can guarantee stability and maintain performance of the closed‐loop system in the presence of HSV actuator faults and saturation.     

Delay‐dependent fault‐tolerant controller for time‐delay systems with randomly occurring uncertainties

This paper addresses the passivity‐based control problem for a class of time‐varying delay systems subject to nonlinear actuator faults and randomly occurring uncertainties via fault‐tolerant controller. More precisely, the uncertainties are described in terms of stochastic variables, which satisfies Bernoulli distribution, and the existence of actuator faults are assumed not only linear but also nonlinear, which is a more general one. The main objective of this paper is to design a state feedback‐reliable controller such that the resulting closed‐loop time‐delay system is stochastically stable under a prescribed mixed and passivity performance level γ>0 in the presence of all admissible uncertainties and actuator faults. Based on Lyapunov stability method and some integral inequality techniques, a new set of sufficient conditions is obtained in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraints to ensure the asymptotic stability of the considered system. Moreover, the control design parameters can be computed by solving a set of LMI constraints. Finally, two examples including a quarter‐car model are provided to show the efficiency and usefulness of the proposed control scheme. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An LMI approach to robust fault estimation for a class of nonlinear systems

The paper presents a robust fault estimation approach for a class of nonlinear discrete‐time systems. In particular, two sources of uncertainty are present in the considered class of systems, that is, an unknown input and an exogenous external disturbance. Thus, apart from simultaneous state and fault estimation, the objective is to decouple the effect of an unknown input while minimizing the influence of the exogenous external disturbance within the framework. The resulting design procedure guarantees that a prescribed disturbance attenuation level is achieved with respect to the state and fault estimation error while assuring the convergence of the observer. The core advantage of the proposed approach is its simplicity by reducing the fault estimation problem to matrix inequalities formulation. In addition, the design conditions ensure the convergence of the observer with guaranteed performance. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by its application to a twin rotor multiple‐input multiple‐output system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel frameworks for the design of fault‐tolerant control using optimal sliding‐mode control

This paper describes 2 schemes for a fault‐tolerant control using a novel optimal sliding‐mode control, which can also be employed as actuator redundancy management for overactuated uncertain linear systems. By using the effectiveness level of the actuators in the performance indexes, 2 schemes for redistributing the control effort among the remaining (redundant or nonfaulty) set of actuators are constructed based on an ‐based optimal sliding‐mode control. In contrast to the current sliding‐mode fault‐tolerant control design methods, in these new schemes, the level of control effort required to maintain sliding is penalised. The proposed optimal sliding‐mode fault‐tolerant control design schemes are implemented in 2 stages. In the first stage, a state feedback gain is derived using an LMI‐based scheme that can assign a number of the closed‐loop eigenvalues to a known value whilst satisfying performance specifications. The sliding function matrix related to the particular state feedback derived in the first stage is obtained in the second stage. The difference between the 2 schemes proposed for the sliding‐mode fault‐tolerant control is that the second one includes a separate control allocation module, which makes it easier to apply actuator constraints to the problem. Moreover, it will be shown that, with the second scheme, we can deal with actuator faults or even failures without controller reconfiguration. We further discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the 2 schemes in more details. The effectiveness of the proposed schemes are illustrated with numerical examples.     

Observer‐based fault estimators using iterative learning scheme for nonlinear time‐delay systems with intermittent faults

This paper deals with the intermittent fault estimation problem for a class of nonlinear time‐delay systems with measurement noise. The time delays are assumed to occur in state vector, nonlinear term as well as output vector, thus reflecting the time delays influence in reality more closely. The aim of the problem is to estimate the intermittent fault by using iterative learning scheme, with the property of index, hence attenuating the influence from measurement noise. Different from existing fault estimating schemes, the state error information and fault estimating information in the previous iteration are used in the current iteration to improve the estimating results. The stability and convergence of iterative learning observer and uniform boundedness of dynamic error system are achieved by using Lyapunov function and optimal function design. Simultaneously, an improved sufficient condition for the existence of such an estimator is established in terms of the linear matrix inequality by the Schur complements and Young relations. Furthermore, the results are both suited for the systems with time‐varying delay and the systems with constant delay. Finally, two numerical examples are proposed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, and a comparability example is presented to demonstrate its superiority. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An optimal approach to output‐feedback robust model predictive control of LPV systems with disturbances

An observer‐based output feedback predictive control approach is proposed for linear parameter varying systems with norm‐bounded external disturbances. Sufficient and necessary robust positively invariant set conditions of the state estimation error are developed to determine the minimal ellipsoidal robust positively invariant set and observer gain through offline computation. The quadratic upper bound of state estimation error is updated and included in an ‐type cost function of predictive control to optimize transient output feedback control performance. Recursive feasibility of the dynamic convex optimization problem is guaranteed in the proposed predictive control strategy. With the input‐to‐state stable observer, the closed‐loop control system states are steered into a bounded set. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrated design of robust fault estimation and fault‐tolerant control against simultaneous actuator and sensor faults

This paper investigates the problems of simultaneous actuator and sensor faults estimation, as well as the fault‐tolerant control scheme for a class of linear continuous‐time systems subject to external disturbances. First, the original system is transformed into a singular form by extending the actuator fault and sensor fault to be parts of the new state. Then, a new estimation technique named non‐fragile proportional‐derivative observer is designed for the singular system to achieve simultaneous estimations of states and faults. With the obtained estimations information, an integrated design of the non‐fragile output feedback fault‐tolerant controller is explored to compensate for the effect of faults by stabilizing the closed‐loop system. Finally, a simulation study on a two‐stage chemical reactor with recycle streams is provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Static output feedback fault tolerant control using control allocation scheme

This paper describes two novel schemes for fault tolerant control using robust suboptimal static output feedback design methods. These schemes can also be employed as actuator redundancy management for overactuated uncertain linear systems. In contrast to many existing methods in the literature that assume the control input matrix (i) is not of full‐rank such that it can be factorized into two matrices and (ii) it does not involve uncertainty, these schemes can be applied to systems whose control input matrix cannot be factorized and/or involve uncertainty. The so‐called virtual control, in these schemes, is calculated using suboptimal ‐based static output feedback design schemes constructed to be robust against uncertainties emanating from inherent input matrix uncertainty and visibility of the control allocator to the controller. Then, using two proposed control allocation schemes (fixed and on‐line), the obtained virtual control signal is redistributed among remaining (redundant or nonfaulty) set of actuators. As the proposed schemes are modular‐based, they can be employed as real‐time fault tolerant control schemes with no need to reconfigure the controller in the case of actuator faults or failures. The effectiveness of the proposed schemes is discussed and compared with numerical examples.     

A novel three‐dimensional guidance law implementation using only line‐of‐sight azimuths

A novel three‐dimensional guidance law using only line‐of‐sight azimuths based on input‐to‐state stability and robust nonlinear observer is proposed for interception of maneuvering targets. The proposed guidance law does not need any prior information of unknown bounded target maneuvers and uncertainties. Since in practice the line‐of‐sight rate is difficult for a pursuer to measure accurately, a nonlinear robust observer is introduced to estimate it. A three‐dimensional guidance law with bearing only measurement is obtained for interception of maneuvering targets. The presented algorithm is tested using computer simulations against a maneuvering target. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust Sliding Mode Observer based Fault Estimation for Certain Class of Uncertain Nonlinear Systems

This paper proposes a new scheme for estimating the actuator and sensor fault for Lipschitz nonlinear systems with unstructured uncertainties using the sliding mode observer (SMO) technique. Initially, a coordinate transformation is introduced to transform the original state vector into two parts such that the actuator faults only appear in the dynamics of the second state vector. The concept of equivalent output error injection is then employed to estimate the actuator fault. The effects of system uncertainties on the estimation errors of states and faults are minimized by integrating an uncertainty attenuation level into the observer. The sufficient conditions for the state estimation error to be bounded and satisfy a prescribed performance are derived and expressed as a linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization problem. Furthermore, the proposed actuator fault estimation method is extended to sensor fault estimation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in estimating actuator and sensor faults has been illustrated considering an example of a single‐link flexible joint robot system.     

Observer‐based controllers with data dropout rate adaptation

In this work, we address the observer‐based control problem for networked control systems with an unknown time‐varying packet arrival rate (PAR) and under root mean square‐norm bounded disturbances. We assume packetized transmissions of both measurement and control input through a communication network with successful delivery acknowledgement. Using the measurement reception state and the control transmission acknowledgement, we derive a filter to estimate the PAR. We consider that the PAR changes sporadically from a constant value to another one; that is, it has two different behaviours: transient and steady state. While the observer only updates the state estimation using the current received measurements, the controller computes the control action employing the current state estimation and the previous applied control input. We propose to schedule both the observer and controller with rational functions of the PAR estimation. We show that the separation principle applies, and then, seeking higher performance accuracy, we develop an optimization observer and controller design procedure that considers the two possible behaviours of the PAR. This optimization procedure attempts to maximize the estimation and control performances for each of the possible constant values of the PAR while offering robustness against PAR estimation errors and variations of the PAR. By exploiting sum‐of‐squares decomposition techniques, the design procedure involves an optimization problem over polynomials. A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reliable sliding mode finite‐time control for discrete‐time singular Markovian jump systems with sensor fault and randomly occurring nonlinearities

This paper focuses on the problem of finite‐time $H_{\infty }$ control for one family of discrete‐time uncertain singular Markovian jump systems with sensor fault and randomly occurring nonlinearities through a sliding mode approach. The failure of sensor is described as a general and practical continuous fault model. Nonlinear disturbance satisfies the Lipschitz condition and occurs in a probabilistic way. Firstly, based on the state estimator, the discrete‐time close‐loop error system can be constructed and sufficient criteria are provided to guarantee the augment system is sliding mode finite‐time boundedness and sliding mode $H_{\infty }$ finite‐time boundedness. The sliding mode control law is synthesized to guarantee the reachability of the sliding surface in a short time interval, and the gain matrices of state feedback controller and state estimator are achieved by solving a feasibility problem in terms of linear matrix inequalities through a decoupling technique. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Adaptive fault tolerant control for a class of uncertain fractional‐order systems based on disturbance observer

In this paper, a class of fractional‐order nonlinear systems are considered in the presence of actuator faults. A novel fault tolerant control scheme based on disturbance observer has been presented, where the actuator faults are considered as the system disturbance and can be approximated by the proposed disturbance observer. The developed fault tolerant control guarantees the convergence of the closed‐loop system and the output tracking performance. Finally, a simulation example is presented to verify the effectiveness of the new method.     

Fault estimation for discrete‐time switched nonlinear systems with discrete and distributed delays

This paper is concerned with the fault estimation for a class of discrete‐time switched nonlinear systems with mixed time delays. The fault existing in the system is assumed to be characterized by an external system, which incorporates the fault's prior knowledge to the considered systems. The fault estimator is designed by using the multiple Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional and average dwell‐time approach. Sufficient conditions in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are developed to ensure the resulting error system is exponentially stable with an optimized disturbance attenuation level. The gain matrices of the estimator can be easily determined by using the standard optimization toolboxes. Finally, numerical examples and simulation results with the help of real‐time systems are given to illustrate the effectiveness and advantages of the obtained results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dual approaches to strictly positive real controller synthesis with a performance using linear matrix inequalities

The synthesis of controllers that minimize a performance index subject to a strictly positive real (SPR) constraint is considered. Two controller synthesis methods are presented that are then combined into an iterative algorithm. Each method synthesizes optimal SPR controllers by posing a convex optimization problem where constraints are enforced via linear matrix inequalities. Additionally, each method fixes the controller state‐feedback gain matrix and finds an observer gain matrix such that an upper bound on the closed‐loop ‐norm is minimized and the controller is SPR. The first method retools the standard ‐optimal control problem by using a common Lyapunov matrix variable to satisfy both the criteria and the SPR constraint. The second method overcomes bilinear matrix inequality issues associated with the performance and the SPR constraint by employing a completing the square method and an overbounding technique. Both synthesis methods are used within an iterative scheme to find optimal SPR controllers in a sequential manner. Comparison of our synthesis methods to existing methods in the literature is presented. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Network‐based robust event‐triggered control for continuous‐time uncertain semi‐Markov jump systems

This article investigates the event‐triggered (ET) states feedback robust control problem for a class of continuous‐time networked semi‐Markov jump systems (S‐MJSs). An ET scheme, which depends on semi‐Markov process, is presented to design a suitable controller and save communication resources. To cope with the network transmission delay phenomenon, a time‐delay S‐MJSs model under the ET scheme is introduced to describe this phenomenon. Then, it is assumed that the communication links between event detector and zero‐order holder are imperfect, where the signal quantization and the actuator fault occur simultaneously. The sufficient conditions are derived by means of linear matrix inequalities approach, which guarantees the stochastic stability of the constructed time‐delay S‐MJSs in an optimized performance level. Based on these criteria, the parameters of controller under the ET scheme are readily calculated. Some simulation results with respect to F‐404 aircraft engine system for two kinds of ET parameters are given to validate the proposed method.     

Weighted control with ‐stability constraint for switched positive linear systems

This paper is concerned with the problem of control with ‐stability constraint for a class of switched positive linear systems. The ‐stability means that all the poles of each subsystem of the resultant closed‐loop system belong to a prescribed disk in the complex plane. A sufficient condition is derived for the existence of a set of state‐feedback controllers, which guarantees that the closed‐loop system is not only positive and exponentially stable with each subsystem ‐stable but also has a weighted performance for a class of switching signals with average dwell time greater than a certain positive constant. Both continuous‐time and discrete‐time cases are considered, and all of the obtained conditions are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities, whose solution also yields the desired controller gains and the corresponding minimal average dwell time. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the presented approach.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.