A Novel RFDI-FTC System for Thrust-Vectoring Aircraft Undergoing Control Surface Damage and Actuator Faults during Supermaneuverable Flight

Abstract

In this paper, a novel robust fault detection and identification and fault-tolerant control (RFDI-FTC) system is proposed for thrust-vectoring aircraft (TVA) during supermaneuverable flight. To this end, a TVA model that incorporates control surface damage, actuator faults, disturbances, and aerodynamic parameter uncertainty is described, and a novel RFDI-FTC system is designed for the TVA model, which includes 1) an RFDI subsystem with robustness to disturbances and parameter uncertainty and sensitivity to control surface damage and actuator faults by multiple adaptive observers; 2) a command filter FTC subsystem to eliminate the differential expansion in traditional backstepping control and to compensate for control surface damage, actuator faults, disturbances and parameter uncertainty; and 3) a stability analysis for the RFDI-FTC system. The simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and potential of this system.