Recursive observer‐based fault detection for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems with output constraints

This paper investigates the fault detection (FD) problem for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems in strict feedback form with an output constraint. The key idea is to design an observer to generate the FD signals and the output estimate, which also satisfies the output constraint. To facilitate constraint handling, the constraints on the output and the output estimate are transformed into the output estimation error constraint. Then, the FD observer is designed in a recursive framework. By employing a barrier Lyapunov function, the output estimation error constraint is incorporated in the last step of the recursive observer design algorithm to prevent constraint violation. It is shown that the output estimation error is uniformly bounded and satisfies the constraint for the fault‐free case. Furthermore, the residual signal is constructed by the output estimation error, and its corresponding bound is used as threshold. Compared with the FD method without considering the constraints, the proposed FD scheme provides a smaller threshold and characterizes a larger set of faults, which can be detected. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the benefits of the proposed FD scheme. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.