Hardware-in-the-loop evaluation of an LPV sliding mode fixed control allocation scheme on the MuPAL-α research aircraft

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this recordThis paper develops a sliding mode fault tolerant control scheme based on an LPV system representation of the plant. The scheme involves a control allocation component, which is capable of fully utilizing the available actuators in the face of actuator faults. In this paper, information about the actuator faults is assumed not to be available and therefore a fixed control allocation structure is utilised in the event of faults. The proposed scheme is validated using the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Multi-Purpose Aviation Laboratory (MuPAL-α) research aircraft. This paper describes initial hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tests which serve as a precursor to upcoming real flight tests. The validation results show good lateral-directional state tracking performance in the fault free case with no visible performance degradation in the presence of (aileron) faults. Successful HIL tests demonstrate the potential of the proposed scheme which will be flight tested later this year.European CommissionJapan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organizatio

Evaluation of a sliding mode fault tolerant controller on the MuPAL-α research aircraft

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordThis paper presents piloted flight test results of a sliding mode fault tolerant control scheme implemented on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's MuPAL-α research aircraft. These results represent unique piloted validation tests of a sliding mode fault tolerant control allocation scheme on a full-scale aircraft operating in the presence of actuator faults. The control law used here does not require the presence of a fault detection and isolation unit and therefore in the event of faults/failures, the actuator effectiveness levels are unknown. In the absence of this information, a fixed control allocation mechanism has been used in order to retain nominal fault-free performance. The control scheme has been implemented on the lateral-directional motion and incorporated within the experimental fly-by-wire system. Piloted flight test results show that close to nominal tracking performance can be maintained despite the presence of unknown actuator faults as well as actuator uncertainties.European UnionJapan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organizatio

Flight evaluations of sliding mode fault tolerant controllers

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordThis paper considers the development of fault tolerant controllers (FTC) and their application to aerospace system. In particular, given the extensive and growing literature in this area, this paper focusses on methods where the schemes have been implemented and flight tested. One thread of the fault tolerant control literature has involved sliding mode controllers. This paper considers a specific class of sliding mode FTC which incorporates control allocation to exploit over-actuation (which is typically present in aerospace systems). The paper describes implementations of these ideas on a small quadrotor UAV and also piloted flight tests on a full-scale twin-engined aircraft

Flight Evaluation of an LPV Sliding Mode Observer for Sensor FTC

This brief develops a sliding mode sensor fault-tolerant control scheme for a class of linear parameter varying (LPV) systems. It incorporates a sliding mode observer that reconstructs the unknown sensor faults based on only the system inputs and outputs. The reconstructed sensor faults are used to compensate for the corrupted sensor measurements before they are used in the feedback controller. Provided accurate fault estimates can be computed; near nominal control performance can be retained without any controller reconfiguration. Furthermore, the closed-loop stability of the fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme, involving both a sliding mode controller and a sliding mode observer, is rigorously analyzed. The proposed scheme is validated using the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Multipurpose Aviation Laboratory (MuPAL- α ) research aircraft. These flight tests represent the first validation tests of a sliding mode sensor FTC scheme on a full-scale aircraft

Flight evaluation of a sliding mode online control allocation scheme for fault tolerant control

This paper develops a sliding mode fault tolerant control scheme based on a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) system representation of the plant. The scheme includes a control allocation component, which is capable of utilizing the available healthy actuators in the face of actuator faults/failures, in an effort to retain close to nominal fault free performance. The proposed scheme is validated using the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Multi-Purpose Aviation Laboratory (MuPAL-α" role="presentation">) research aircraft. The flight test results demonstrate good lateral-directional state tracking performance with no visible performance degradation in the presence of rudder and aileron faults

Flight evaluation of an LPV sliding mode observer for sensor FTC

This brief develops a sliding mode sensor fault-tolerant control scheme for a class of linear parameter varying (LPV) systems. It incorporates a sliding mode observer that reconstructs the unknown sensor faults based on only the system inputs and outputs. The reconstructed sensor faults are used to compensate for the corrupted sensor measurements before they are used in the feedback controller. Provided accurate fault estimates can be computed; near nominal control performance can be retained without any controller reconfiguration. Furthermore, the closed-loop stability of the fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme, involving both a sliding mode controller and a sliding mode observer, is rigorously analyzed. The proposed scheme is validated using the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Multipurpose Aviation Laboratory (MuPAL-α) research aircraft. These flight tests represent the first validation tests of a sliding mode sensor FTC scheme on a full-scale aircraft