Estimator design in jet engine applications

Abstract

Jet engines are nonlinear dynamical systems for which an exact mathematical model cannot be used for estimator design, because it is either not available or so complex that it does not fit the necessary assumptions. Thus, classical analytical tools for studying standard system properties like observability, which is very important in estimator design, cannot be directly applied. Generally, for practical jet engine applications, the designer faces two closely related problems: first, given an unmeasurable parameter, find the minimal set of estimator inputs that facilitates achieving a satisfactory estimation performance (input selection); second, given a predetermined set of inputs, derive an observability measure that characterizes the estimation feasibility of a specific unmeasurable parameter. In the paper, techniques for solving these two problems are developed and applied to estimator design for jet engine thrust, stall margins, and an unmeasurable state.