On-line estimation approaches to fault-tolerant control of uncertain systems

This thesis is concerned with fault estimation in Fault-Tolerant Control (FTC) and as such involves the joint problem of on-line estimation within an adaptive control system. The faults that are considered are significant uncertainties affecting the control variables of the process and their estimates are used in an adaptive control compensation mechanism. The approach taken involves the active FTC, as the faults can be considered as uncertainties affecting the control system. The engineering (application domain) challenges that are addressed are: (1) On-line model-based fault estimation and compensation as an FTC problem, for systems with large but bounded fault magnitudes and for which the faults can be considered as a special form of dynamic uncertainty. (2) Fault-tolerance in the distributed control of uncertain inter-connected systems The thesis also describes how challenge (1) can be used in the distributed control problem of challenge (2). The basic principle adopted throughout the work is that the controller has two components, one involving the nominal control action and the second acting as an adaptive compensation for significant uncertainties and fault effects. The fault effects are a form of uncertainty which is considered too large for the application of passive FTC methods. The thesis considers several approaches to robust control and estimation: augmented state observer (ASO); sliding mode control (SMC); sliding mode fault estimation via Sliding Mode Observer (SMO); linear parameter-varying (LPV) control; two-level distributed control with learning coordination

Design and Beam Dynamic Studies of an Injector for a Compact THz Coherent Radiation Source

An intense narrow-band terahertz (THz) radiation source has been designed to generate a broad tuning range of radiation frequencies between 0.5 THz and 5.0 THz. The THz radiation is produced when a short-bunch electron beam propagates through an undulator. To achieve high-power peak radiation, the source requires high-brightness electron beams with low beam emittance and short bunch length. A proposed design for the photocathode RF gun used as the electron source is presented. The gun with high mode separation and high Q-factor can be achieved for producing a good beam quality. The beam dynamics of the injector have been preliminarily optimized using the software ASTRA and Elegant, investigating the impact of laser pulse shape on electron beam quality. The results of the beam dynamics studies are comprehensively discussed in this paper

Friction compensation as a fault-tolerant control problem

The control of systems that involve friction presents interesting challenges. Recent research has focused on detailed modelling of friction phenomena in order to use robust on-line friction compensation procedures, attempting to cancel out the friction force effect in the feedback control of a mechanical or mechatronic system. However, the friction modelling problem remains a very difficult challenge and this article proposes a new approach to friction compensation which is based on the theory of robust fault estimation. The friction forces acting in a dynamic system can be viewed as actuator faults with time-varying characteristics to be estimated and compensated within an output feedback fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme, so that the limitations arising from the use of a friction model are obviated. The friction (fault) estimation problem is hence embedded inside a control system with required stability, and performance robustness. This can be a significant advantage over well-known model-based friction compensation methods in which detailed modelling of friction phenomena is essential and for which robustness with respect to friction characteristics is difficult to achieve using non-linear models

AN LPV POLE–PLACEMENT APPROACH TO FRICTION COMPENSATION AS AN FTC PROBLEM

The concept of combining robust fault estimation within a controller system to achieve active Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) has been the subject of considerable interest in the recent literature. The current study is motivated by the need to develop model-based FTC schemes for systems that have no unique equilibria and are therefore difficult to linearise. Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) strategies are well suited to model-based control and fault estimation for such systems. This contribution involves pole-placement within suitable LMI regions, guaranteeing both stability and performance of a multi-fault LPV estimator employed within an FTC structure. The proposed design strategy is illustrated using a nonlinear two-link manipulator system with friction forces acting simultaneously at each joint. The friction forces, regarded as a special case of actuator faults, are estimated and their effect is compensated within a polytope controller system, yielding a robust form of active FTC that is easy to apply to real robot systems

Robust FDI for FTC coordination in a distributed network system

This paper focuses on the development of a suitable Fault Detection and Isolation (FDI) strategy for application to a system of inter-connected and distributed systems, as a basis for a fault-tolerant Network Control System (NCS) problem. The work follows a recent study showing that a hierarchical decentralized control system architecture may be suitable for fault-tolerant control (FTC) of a network of distributed and interacting subsystems. The main idea is to use robust FDI methods to facilitate the discrimination between faults acting within one subsystem and faults acting in other areas of the network, so that a powerful form of active FTC of the NCS can be implemented, through an autonomous network coordinator. By using a robust form of the Unknown Input Observer (UIO), fault effects in each subsystem are de-coupled from the other subsystems, thus facilitating a powerful way to achieve local FDI in each subsystem under autonomous system coordination. Whilst the autonomous distributed control system provides active FTC under learning control, the FDI-based Reconfiguration Task enhances the network fault-tolerance, so that more significant subsystem faults can be accommodated in order to achieve a suitable standard of Quality of Performance (QoP) of the NCS