Sliding Mode Methods for Fault Detection and Fault Tolerant Control

Sliding mode methods have been historically studied because of their strong robustness properties to a certain class of uncertainty. This is achieved by employing nonlinear control/injection signals to force the system trajectories to attain in finite time a motion along a surface in the state-space. This paper will consider how these ideas can be exploited for fault detection (specifically fault signal estimation) and subsequently fault tolerant control. The paper will also describe applications of these ideas to aerospace systems. It will describe piloted flight simulator results associated with the GARTEUR AG16 action group on fault tolerant control. The results demonstrate the successful real-time implementation of the proposed fault tolerant control scheme on a motion flight simulator configured to represent the EL-AL aircraft.