New robust fault-tolerant controller for self-repairing flight control systems

A new robust fault-tolerant controller scheme integrating a main controller and a compensator for the self-repairing flight control system is discussed. The main controller is designed for high performance of the original faultless system. The compensating controller can be seen as a standalone loop added to the system to compensate the effects of fault guaranteeing the stability of the system. A design method is proposed using nonlinear dynamic inverse control as the main controller and nonlinear extended state observer-based compensator. The stability of the whole closed-loop system is analyzed. Feasibility and validity of the new controller is demonstrated with an aircraft simulation example.