Fault-Tolerant Control System Based on Adaptive Neural Network Observer with Structural Damage in Aircraft
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/jatm.v18.1433Keywords:
Fault-tolerant control, Nonlinear dynamic inversion controller, Adaptive neural network observer, Vertical tail damage; Damage parametersAbstract
This paper proposes an accurate mathematical model and a fault-tolerant control system (FTCS) with an adaptive neural network (ANN) observer that considers structural damage of an aircraft. Structural damage causes substantial variations in aerodynamic coefficients and mass properties. Due to these variations, the mathematical modeling of a damaged aircraft becomes highly challenging. Moreover, since the aircraft flight control system has a fixed architecture, changes in the aircraft model may lead to instability. In order to accurately model damaged aircraft, a new uncertainty term and a damage severity coefficient have been defined as damage parameters. Based on the proposed model, an FTCS is developed, which combines an ANN observer with a modified nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) controller. The ANN observer is utilized for real-time estimation of damage parameters. Afterwards, the dynamic inversion control law is reconfigured based on the estimated damage parameters. The simulation results demonstrate the impact of the uncertainty parameter on the flight control system and verify the effectiveness of the proposed method under damage to the vertical tail.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mohsen Rahnama, Seyed Hussein Sadati, Yosef Abbasi, Mostafa Khazaee
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