Retrofit fault‐tolerant tracking control design of an unmanned quadrotor helicopter considering actuator dynamics

This paper presents a retrofit fault‐tolerant tracking control (FTTC) design method with application to an unmanned quadrotor helicopter (UQH). The proposed retrofit fault‐tolerant tracking controller is developed to accommodate loss‐of‐effectiveness faults in the actuators of UQH. First, a state feedback tracking controller acting as the normal controller is designed to guarantee the stability and satisfactory performance of UQH in the absence of actuator faults, while actuator dynamics of UQH are also considered in the controller design. Then, a retrofit control mechanism with integration of an adaptive fault estimator and an adaptive fault compensator is devised against the adverse effects of actuator faults. Next, the proposed retrofit FTTC strategy, which is synthesized by the normal controller and an additional reconfigurable fault compensating mechanism, takes over the control of the faulty UQH to asymptotically stabilize the closed‐loop system with an acceptable performance degradation in the presence of actuator faults. Finally, both numerical simulations and practical experiments are conducted in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed FTTC methodology on the asymptotic convergence of tracking error for several combinations of loss‐of‐effectiveness faults in actuators.     

LPV model-based robust diagnosis of flight actuator faults

A linear parameter-varying (LPV) model-based synthesis, tuning and assessment methodology is developed and applied for the design of a robust fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) system for several types of flight actuator faults such as jamming, runaway, oscillatory failure, or loss of efficiency. The robust fault detection is achieved by using a synthesis approach based on an accurate approximation of the nonlinear actuator–control surface dynamics via an LPV model and an optimal tuning of the free parameters of the FDD system using multi-objective optimization techniques. Real-time signal processing is employed for identification of different fault types. The assessment of the FDD system robustness has been performed using both standard Monte-Carlo methods as well as advanced worst-case search based optimization-driven robustness analysis. A supplementary industrial validation performed on the AIRBUS actuator test bench for the monitoring of jamming, confirmed the satisfactory performance of the FDD system in a true industrial setting.     

四旋翼无人机姿态系统的非线性容错控制设计

本文研究了四旋翼无人机执行器发生部分失效时的姿态控制问题.通过分析其动力学特性,将执行器故障以乘性因子加入系统模型,得到执行器故障情况下四旋翼无人机的姿态动力学模型.在同时存在未知外部扰动和执行器故障的情况下,设计了一种基于自适应滑模控制的容错控制器.利用基于Lyapunov的分析方法证明了所设计控制器的渐近稳定性.在四旋翼无人机实验平台上进行了实验,验证了该算法对存在未知外部扰动和执行器部分失效时四旋翼无人机的姿态控制具有较好的鲁棒性.     

A Novel Robust Attitude Control for Quadrotor Aircraft Subject to Actuator Faults and Wind Gusts

A novel robust fault tolerant controller is developed for the problem of attitude control of a quadrotor aircraft in the presence of actuator faults and wind gusts in this paper. Firstly, a dynamical system of the quadrotor taking into account aerodynamical effects induced by lateral wind and actuator faults is considered using the Newton-Euler approach. Then, based on active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), the fault tolerant controller is proposed to recover faulty system and reject perturbations. The developed controller takes wind gusts, actuator faults and measurement noises as total perturbations which are estimated by improved extended state observer (ESO) and compensated by nonlinear feedback control law. So, the developed robust fault tolerant controller can successfully accomplish the tracking of the desired output values. Finally, some simulation studies are given to illustrate the effectiveness of fault recovery of the proposed scheme and also its ability to attenuate external disturbances that are introduced from environmental causes such as wind gusts and measurement noises.      

四旋翼无人机不匹配扰动抗干扰控制

针对四旋翼无人机存在的不匹配干扰和执行器故障等现象,提出了一种基于有限时间观测器的飞行控制方案。从无人机的运动学模型出发,构建了受执行器故障和不匹配干扰影响的控制模型。将干扰观测器与非奇异终端滑模控制 (NTSMC) 方法相结合,以实现复合抗干扰和容错控制器设计。首先,设计了两个非线性有限时间扰动观测器来估计不匹配扰动和执行器故障,有限时间观测器使得估计误差在有限时间内收敛到零。其次,将观测器与NTSMC控制方法结合,以在有限的时间内实现跟踪,并有效地减少抖振。最后,从理论和仿真验证了控制方法的有效性和所期望的控制性能。     

Robust adaptive fault estimation and fault tolerant control for quadrotor attitude systems

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the problem of fault estimation and fault tolerant control for quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle. Firstly, a robust adaptive fault estimation observer (AFEO) is proposed to achieve fault estimation of quadrotor with actuator fault in the presence of external disturbances and parameter uncertainties. Furthermore, based on the estimation of fault, a dynamic output feedback fault tolerant controller (DOFFTC) is designed to stabilise the closed-loop system with faults and uncertainties. Sufficient conditions for the existence of both AFEO and DOFFTC are given in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.     

四旋翼无人机的多模型故障诊断

四旋翼无人机是一个强耦合非线性被控对象,准确地判断故障情况,并及时调整控制器参数对无人机的安全飞行具有重要的意义。针对四旋翼无人机的执行器部分失效故障,提出了一种多模型在线故障诊断方法。该方法根据不同故障模式建立故障模型集,通过模型集的并联运行对无人机工作模式进行在线监测。仿真结果表明,对于单旋翼执行器部分失效故障,该方法能够快速准确地获得故障模型参数。     

Passive actuator fault tolerant control for a class of MIMO nonlinear systems with uncertainties

Fault tolerant control of affine class of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems has not received considerable attention of researchers compared to other class of nonlinear systems. Therefore, this paper proposes an adaptive passive fault tolerant control method for actuator faults of affine class of MIMO nonlinear systems with uncertainties using sliding mode control . The actuator fault is represented by a multiplicative factor of the control signal which reflects the loss of actuator effectiveness. The design of the controller is based on the assumption that the maximum loss level of the actuator effectiveness is known. Furthermore, since the proposed controller is adaptive, it does not require any a-priori knowledge of the uncertainty bounds. The closed-loop stability conditions of the controller are derived based on Lyapunov theory. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is demonstrated considering two examples: a two degree of freedom helicopter and a two-link robot manipulator and has been found to be satisfactory.     

直升机执行器故障的双时标容错控制系统设计

针对直升机的执行器故障,本文提出了一种基于双时标模型的自适应容错控制方法.根据直升机的不同状态变量响应时间不同的特点和时标分离理论,将直升机模型划分为快速(姿态动力学)和慢速(平移动力学)两种时标模型.反步控制方法和逆动力学控制方法分别被用于进行快慢两种模型控制器的设计,并在控制过程中采用了不同的控制周期.在双时标模型中,引入了执行器效率因子(actuator effectiveness factors,AEFs)用于表示执行器的健康情况.利用无色卡尔曼滤波(unscented Kalman filter,UKF)对AEFs进行了在线估计,估计结果用于快速和慢速模型控制器的自适应重构.仿真结果表明,该自适应容错控制方法,能够有效的消除执行器故障(包括常值和时变故障)对直升机飞行性能的影响,并取得良好的控制效果.     

具有执行器故障的四旋翼无人机有限时间容错控制

本文主要研究了四旋翼无人机在外部干扰、执行器存在部分失效和偏置故障并发情况下有限时间轨迹跟踪的控制问题. 通过分析四旋翼无人机动力学特性, 构建了带有外部干扰、执行器机构故障的动力学模型. 基于鲁棒全局快速终端滑模控制算法, 设计了一种有限时间容错控制器, 提高了系统对故障的响应速度. 其次, 针对常值/时变故障和干扰,在控制器设计中采用改进的连续函数进行补偿, 减少了由切换函数引起的系统抖振, 并基于Lyapunov函数对控制器的稳定性进行了分析. 最后, 通过仿真实验验证了所设计控制器的有效性和可靠性, 同时存在执行器故障和外部干扰的情况下, 无人机能够实现较好的轨迹跟踪性能.     

A fault tolerant tracking control for a quadrotor UAV subject to simultaneous actuator faults and exogenous disturbances

ABSTRACT

An observer-based robust adaptive Fault Tolerant Control approach is proposed in this paper to tackle the problem of trajectory tracking for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) suffering simultaneous actuator faults, exogenous disturbances and actuator saturation limits. An adaptive fuzzy state observer is proposed to estimate the immeasurable states by using fuzzy logic systems to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions of the uncertain system model. Based on the estimates of the fuzzy observer, an Integral Terminal Sliding Mode Controller that guarantees finite time convergence of the states to a small neighbourhood of zero, even under impaired conditions, is developed. Stability analysis was carried over using the Lyapunov method. The proposed approach was implemented to a quadrotor UAV and its performance was assessed under nominal conditions, and by subjecting the quadrotor to disturbances, simultaneously occurring actuator faults and input saturation limits. Excellent tracking performance and robustness even under worst-case scenarios are among the positive features of the proposed approach.     

主动变形四旋翼自抗扰飞行控制方法

为了获得更好的环境适应性,研究设计了一种主动变形四旋翼飞行器.飞行器的变形主要分为两种:机臂伸缩和折叠.为抑制系统所受内外扰动影响,设计了基于自抗扰控制(ADRC)技术的飞行控制器.首先对主动变形四旋翼结构进行设计,使用牛顿欧拉法建立风扰下系统动力学模型,然后分析阵风对系统影响以及动态变形时重心位置、惯性张量等参数的变化,接着将主动变形四旋翼系统解耦成6个SISO系统的组合并设计位姿自抗扰控制器,最后分别利用扩张状态观测器和非线性状态误差反馈律对系统所受扰动进行观测和补偿.仿真结果表明,本文所设计的基于ADRC飞行控制器的主动变形四旋翼具有优秀的位姿控制能力,在飞行过程中可以良好地进行变形,能够有效地观测变形的扰动和紊流风扰,具有较强的稳定性和抗扰性,同时对系统部分动力失效故障有较强的鲁棒性.     

An Efficient Model Predictive Control Scheme for an Unmanned Quadrotor Helicopter

In this paper, an efficient Model Predictive Control (eMPC) algorithm deploying fewer prediction points and less computational requirement is presented in order to control a small or miniature unmanned quadrotor helicopter. A model reduction technique associated with the dynamics of an unmanned quadrotor helicopter is also put forward so as to minimize the burden of calculations in application of MPC into an airborne platform. For three-dimensional tracking control of the quadrotor helicopter, simulation results corresponding to the algebraic formulation—presented in this paper—versus the standard MPC formulation commonly found in the literature further illustrate effectiveness of this study. Unsuccessful implementation of the standard formulation on the testbed due to computational burden proves the necessity and advantages of this new approach. Eventually, to demonstrate effectiveness of the developed MPC algorithm, the suggested algebraic-based MPC framework is successfully implemented on an unmanned quadrotor helicopter testbed (known as Qball-X4) available at the Networked Autonomous Vehicles Lab (NAVL) of Concordia University for tracking control of the unmanned aerial vehicle.     

Stabilization of desired motion of a quadrotor helicopter

In this paper, a problem of constructing a control law for a quadrotor helicopter—a fourrotor helicopter is considered. The classical design of this vehicle contains a four-way frame, at which nodes electric motors with propellers rigidly mounted on their axles. An approach to solving the problem is proposed, based on application of the method of two-level control, according to which the required control is constructed in the form of the sum of a desired control and an additional feedback stabilizing the zero solution of the system of equations in deviations from the desired motion. The complete controllability of the nonstationary linear system in deviations is strictly proved. For constructing a stabilizing feedback, a known solution of the problem on linear controller with quadratic cost function is used. The proposed approach makes it possible to develop a general numerical method for constructing a control that provides a stable motion of the quadrotor helicopter along arbitrary smooth three-dimensional trajectories.     

Attitude Tracking Control of A Quad‐Rotor with Partial Loss of Rotation Effectiveness

This paper investigates the attitude control problem of a quad‐rotor unmanned helicopter. In response to adverse factors, including the lumped disturbance, inertia parameter uncertainties, and the partial loss of rotation effectiveness, an adaptive compensation control strategy combining the terminal sliding mode technique and the input shaping method is proposed. Specifically, a group of updating laws using an adaptive mechanism is added to adjust the control strategy in a manner conductive to attitude stability and performance preservation in the presence of adverse factors. The key features of the proposed control strategy are that it is independent from the knowledge of actuator faults, and adaptive compensation control is achieved without the need for online identification of rotor failure. The finite time convergence and stability of the attitude tracking errors are proved by using Lyaponov's method. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.     

Fuzzy adaptive nonlinear sensor‐fault tolerant control for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle

In this paper, a novel fuzzy adaptive nonlinear fault tolerant control design scheme is proposed for attitude dynamics of quadrotor UAV subjected to four sensor faults (bias, drift, loss of accuracy, loss of effectiveness). The sensor faults in Euler angle loop are transformed equivalently into a mismatched uncertainty vector, and other unknown items involving faults, uncertain parameters and external disturbances in angular velocity loop are lumped into an unknown nonlinear function vector. Fuzzy logic systems with adaptive parameters are used to approximate the mismatched uncertainty and lumped nonlinear function vectors. Dynamic surface control is applied to design the fault tolerant controller, and sliding mode control is introduced to improve the control accuracy. All signals of the closed‐loop control system are proved to be semi‐global uniformly ultimately bounded. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for sensor faults.     

Composite Hierarchical Anti-Disturbance Control of a Quadrotor UAV in the Presence of Matched and Mismatched Disturbances

Quadrotor helicopter is an unstable system subject to matched and mismatched disturbances. To stabilize the quadrotor dynamics in the presence of these disturbances, the application of a composite hierarchical anti-disturbance controller, combining a sliding mode controller and a disturbance observer, is presented in this paper. The disturbance observer is used to attenuate the effect of constant and slow time-varying disturbances. Whereas, the sliding mode controller is used to attenuate the effect of fast time-varying disturbances. In addition, sliding mode control attenuates the effect of the disturbance observer estimation errors of the constant and slow time-varying disturbances. In this approach, the upper bounds of the disturbance observer estimation errors are required instead of the disturbances’ upper bounds. The disturbance observer estimation errors are found to be bounded when the disturbance observer dynamics are asymptotically stable and the disturbance derivatives and initial disturbances are bounded. Moreover, due to the highly nonlinear nature of the quadrotor dynamics, the upper bounds of a part of the quadrotor states and disturbance estimates are required. The nonlinear terms in the rotational dynamics are considered as disturbances, part of which is mismatched. This assumption simplifies the control system design by dividing the quadrotor’s model into a position subsystem and a heading subsystem, and designing a controller for each separately. The stability analysis of the closed loop system is carried out using Lyapunov stability arguments. The effectiveness of the developed control scheme is demonstrated in simulations by applying different sources of disturbances such as wind gusts and partial actuator failure.     

Fault-tolerant control of linear systems using adaptive virtual actuator

In this paper, design and development of fault-tolerant control (FTC) is investigated for linear systems subject to loss of effectiveness and time-varying additive actuator faults as well as an external disturbance using the fault-hiding approach. The main aim of this approach is to keep the nominal controller and to design a virtual actuator that is inserted between the faulty plant and the nominal controller in order to hide actuator faults and disturbances from the nominal controller, and consequently the performance of the system before and after the occurrence of actuator faults is kept to be the same. The proposed adaptive virtual actuator does not require a separated fault detection, isolation and identification (FDII) unit and both state and output feedback cases are considered. An illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive virtual actuator in both cases.     

Adaptive Sliding Mode Observer‐Based Robust Fault Reconstruction for a Helicopter With Actuator Fault

This paper proposes a design method of robust fault reconstruction for a 3‐DOF helicopter with actuator faults and disturbance. The model of the 3‐DOF helicopter considered in this paper is an affine nonlinear system. An adaptive sliding mode observer is firstly proposed such that the actuator fault can be reconstructed through the adaptive law online. Then, based on linear matrix inequalities (LMI), a feasible algorithm is explored to solve the designed parameters. Finally, a simulation study of the 3‐DOF helicopter is presented to show the effectiveness of the scheme.     

Image Based and Hybrid Visual Servo Control of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for military, scientific, and civilian sectors are increasing drastically in recent years. This study presents algorithms for the visual-servo control of an UAV, in which a quadrotor helicopter has been stabilized with visual information through the control loop. Unlike previous study that use pose estimation approach which is time consuming and subject to various errors, the visual-servo control is more reliable and fast. The method requires a camera on-board the vehicle, which is already available on various UAV systems. The UAV with a camera behaves like an eye-in-hand visual servoing system. In this study the controller was designed by using two different approaches; image based visual servo control method and hybrid visual servo control method. Various simulations are developed on Matlab, in which the quadrotor aerial vehicle has been visual-servo controlled. In order to show the effectiveness of the algorithms, experiments were performed on a model quadrotor UAV, which suggest successful performance.