H∞ fault estimation with randomly occurring uncertainties, quantization effects and successive packet dropouts: The finite-horizon case

In this paper, the finite-horizon H∞ fault estimation problem is investigated for a class of uncertain nonlinear time-varying systems subject to multiple stochastic delays. The randomly occurring uncertainties (ROUs) enter into the system due to the random fluctuations of network conditions. The measured output is quantized by a logarithmic quantizer before being transmitted to the fault estimator. Also, successive packet dropouts (SPDs) happen when the quantized signals are transmitted through an unreliable network medium. Three mutually independent sets of Bernoulli-distributed white sequences are introduced to govern the multiple stochastic delays, ROUs and SPDs. By employing the stochastic analysis approach, some sufficient conditions are established for the desired finite-horizon fault estimator to achieve the specified H∞ performance. The time-varying parameters of the fault estimator are obtained by solving a set of recursive linear matrix inequalities. Finally, an illustrative numerical example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed fault estimation approach

Fault detection and isolation in a networked multi-vehicle unmanned system

Recent years have witnessed a strong interest and intensive research activities in the area of networks of autonomous unmanned vehicles such as spacecraft formation flight, unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles, automated highway systems and multiple mobile robots. The envisaged networked architecture can provide surpassing performance capabilities and enhanced reliability; however, it requires extending the traditional theories of control, estimation and Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI). One of the many challenges for these systems is development of autonomous cooperative control which can maintain the group behavior and mission performance in the presence of undesirable events such as failures in the vehicles. In order to achieve this goal, the team should have the capability to detect and isolate vehicles faults and reconfigure the cooperative control algorithms to compensate for them. This dissertation deals with the design and development of fault detection and isolation algorithms for a network of unmanned vehicles. Addressing this problem is the main step towards the design of autonomous fault tolerant cooperative control of network of unmanned systems. We first formulate the FDI problem by considering ideal communication channels among the vehicles and solve this problem corresponding to three different architectures, namely centralized, decentralized, and semi-decentralized. The necessary and sufficient solvability conditions for each architecture are also derived based on geometric FDI approach. The effects of large environmental disturbances are subsequently taken into account in the design of FDI algorithms and robust hybrid FDI schemes for both linear and nonlinear systems are developed. Our proposed robust FDI algorithms are applied to a network of unmanned vehicles as well as Almost-Lighter-Than-Air-Vehicle (ALTAV). The effects of communication channels on fault detection and isolation performance are then investigated. A packet erasure channel model is considered for incorporating stochastic packet dropout of communication channels. Combining vehicle dynamics and communication links yields a discrete-time Markovian Jump System (MJS) mathematical model representation. This motivates development of a geometric FDI framework for both discrete-time and continuous-time Markovian jump systems. Our proposed FDI algorithm is then applied to a formation flight of satellites and a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) helicopter problem. Finally, we investigate the problem of fault detection and isolation for time-delay systems as well as linear impulsive systems. The main motivation behind considering these two problems is that our developed geometric framework for Markovian jump systems can readily be applied to other class of systems. Broad classes of time-delay systems, namely, retarded, neutral, distributed and stochastic time-delay systems are investigated in this dissertation and a robust FDI algorithm is developed for each class of these systems. Moreover, it is shown that our proposed FDI algorithms for retarded and stochastic time-delay systems can potentially be applied in an integrated design of FDI/controller for a network of unmanned vehicles. Necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the fundamental problem of residual generation for linear impulsive systems are derived to conclude this dissertation

Geometric Fault Detection and Isolation of Infinite Dimensional Systems

A broad class of dynamical systems from chemical processes to flexible mechanical structures, heat transfer and compression processes in gas turbine engines are represented by a set of partial differential equations (PDE). These systems are known as infinite dimensional (Inf-D) systems. Most of Inf-D systems, including PDEs and time-delayed systems can be represented by a differential equation in an appropriate Hilbert space. These Hilbert spaces are essentially Inf-D vector spaces, and therefore, they are utilized to represent Inf-D dynamical systems. Inf-D systems have been investigated by invoking two schemes, namely approximate and exact methods. Both approaches extend the control theory of ordinary differential equation (ODE) systems to Inf-D systems, however by utilizing two different methodologies. In the former approach, one needs to first approximate the original Inf-D system by an ODE system (e.g. by using finite element or finite difference methods) and then apply the established control theory of ODEs to the approximated model. On the other hand, in the exact approach, one investigates the Inf-D system without using any approximation. In other words, one first represents the system as an Inf-D system and then investigates it in the corresponding Inf-D Hilbert space by extending and generalizing the available results of finite-dimensional (Fin-D) control theory. It is well-known that one of the challenging issues in control theory is development of algorithms such that the controlled system can maintain the required performance even in presence of faults. In the literature, this property is known as fault tolerant control. The fault detection and isolation (FDI) analysis is the first step in order to achieve this goal. For Inf-D systems, the currently available results on the FDI problem are quite limited and restricted. This thesis is mainly concerned with the FDI problem of the linear Inf-D systems by using both approximate and exact approaches based on the geometric control theory of Fin-D and Inf-D systems. This thesis addresses this problem by developing a geometric FDI framework for Inf-D systems. Moreover, we implement and demonstrate a methodology for applying our results to mathematical models of a heat transfer and a two-component reaction-diffusion processes. In this thesis, we first investigate the development of an FDI scheme for discrete-time multi-dimensional (nD) systems that represent approximate models for Inf-D systems. The basic invariant subspaces including unobservable and unobservability subspaces of one-dimensional (1D) systems are extended to nD models. Sufficient conditions for solvability of the FDI problem are provided, where an LMI-based approach is also derived for the observer design. The capability of our proposed FDI methodology is demonstrated through numerical simulation results to an approximation of a hyperbolic partial differential equation system of a heat exchanger that is represented as a two-dimensional (2D) system. In the second part, an FDI methodology for the Riesz spectral (RS) system is investigated. RS systems represent a large class of parabolic and hyperbolic PDE in Inf-D systems framework. This part is mainly concerned with the equivalence of different types of invariant subspaces as defined for RS systems. Necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the FDI problem are developed. Moreover, for a subclass of RS systems, we first provide algorithms (for computing the invariant subspaces) that converge in a finite and known number of steps and then derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the FDI problem. Finally, by generalizing the results that are developed for RS systems necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the FDI problem in a general Inf-D system are derived. Particularly, we first address invariant subspaces of Fin-D systems from a new point of view by invoking resolvent operators. This approach enables one to extend the previous Fin-D results to Inf-D systems. Particularly, necessary and sufficient conditions for equivalence of various types of conditioned and controlled invariant subspaces of Inf-D systems are obtained. Duality properties of Inf-D systems are then investigated. By introducing unobservability subspaces for Inf-D systems the FDI problem is formally formulated, and necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the FDI problem are provided

Fault detection and isolation of linear impulsive systems

This technical note investigates the development of fault detection and isolation (FDI) filters for linear impulsive systems. The concept of an unobservability subspace is introduced for linear impulsive systems and an algorithm for its construction is described. The necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the fundamental problem of residual generation for linear impulsive systems are obtained by utilizing our introduced unobservability subspace. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed FDI strategy. 2010 IEEE.Scopu