A controller management scheme for active fault-tolerant tracking: Linear discrete-time systems

Abstract

This paper proposes an active fault-tolerant control (FTC) approach based on the controller management and virtual actuator idea for linear discrete-time systems subject to unknown L2-bounded disturbances, input constraint, and time-varying additive actuator faults. The closed-loop faulty system, which includes the modified nominal controller, the fault and state estimator, and the virtual actuator, suppresses the effects of disturbances and faults, while ensuring input-constraint satisfaction. The management of the nominal controller is performed through an online optimization method – in the form of a standard quadratic programming problem – by manipulating the reference input and intervening in the nominal controller evolution. The proposed method proves the input-to-state stability (ISS) criterion of the overall closed-loop faulty system. The problem of minimizing the ultimate bound of the ISS criterion is formulated in terms of tractable linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions that allow the fault and state estimation errors to converge to a small neighborhood of the origin. To illustrate the capabilities and advantages of the proposed control strategy, comparative simulation results are presented for a flexible joint robotic system, tracking control of a DC motor’s angular velocity, and the multivariable VTOL aircraft.