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A Fault-Tolerant Control Scheme for Fixed-Wing UAVs with Flight Envelope Awareness

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Abstract

In this work a vertically integrated fault-tolerant control scheme for fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is presented. At its core, an online approximate Trim Flight Envelope generator yields the motion constraints of the UAV. Given fault information, it remains always up-to-date in view of emerging faults. The controller stack comprises of Nonlinear Model Predictive Controllers for angular velocity, linear velocity and position. Path Planning is achieved by Simple Sparse Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (SST). Both the controllers and the planner are aware of the flight constraints and are hence tolerant to faults. A large set of sensor and actuator faults, common to UAVs are considered and the controllability of the UAV is examined. Detailed simulations using real-time implementations of the controllers are carried out.

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Code Availability

The software of the presented controllers can be found at: https://github.com/Georacer/uav_ftc/tree/master

The software of the simulation environment can be found at: https://github.com/Georacer/last_letter

Abbreviations

FE:

Flight Envelope

AoA:

Angle of Attack

AoS:

Angle of Sideslip

LOC:

Loss of Control

UAV:

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UAS:

Unmanned Aerial System

AHRS:

Attitude and Heading Reference System

MEMS:

Miniature Electro-Mechanical System

MPC:

Model Predictive Controller

NMPC:

Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller

EKF:

Extended Kalman Filter

RRT:

Rapidly-exploring Random Trees

SST:

Sparse Stable RRT

PIC:

Pilot In Command

FTC:

Fault-Tolerant Control

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Funding

This research work was partially funded by the “Hellenic Civil Unmanned Arial Vehicle (HCUAV)” project, sponsored by the Greek Secretariat of Research and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechniou Str, 15780, Athens, Greece

    George Zogopoulos-Papaliakos & Kostas J. Kyriakopoulos

  2. Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications, University of Thessaly, 3rd Km Old National Road Lamia-Athens, 35100, Lamia, Greece

    George C. Karras

Authors
  1. George Zogopoulos-Papaliakos
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  2. George C. Karras
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Contributions

All authors whose names appear on the submission

1. made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work as well as the creation of new software used in the work;

2. drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;

3. approved the version to be published; and

4. agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Correspondence to George Zogopoulos-Papaliakos.

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Appendices

Appendix A: Aircraft Model Coefficients

Key:

 

nominal

Nominal, fault-free model.

pert-5

Based off nominal, all coefficients perturbed by 5%.

ail-elev-50

50% reduction in aileron and elevator efficiency.

ail-0

Total loss of aileron efficiency.

rud-0

Total loss of rudder efficiency.

elev-0

Total loss of elevator efficiency.

mot-0

Total loss of propulsion thrust.

aero-small

Small, manageable fault in aerodynamics.

aero-large

Large, detrimental fault in aerodynamics.

one-ail

One aileron stuck.

Table 5 Table with aircraft models coefficients
Full size table

Appendix B: Simulations Index

Sim Index

Highest reference

FE enabled

FE used

Ref. Used

Model name

Controller

Notes

01

Linear velocity

Yes

nominal

1

nominal

MPC

 

02

Linear velocity

No

 

1

nominal

MPC

 

03

waypoints

Yes

nominal

2

nominal

MPC

 

04

waypoints

No

 

2

nominal

MPC

 

05

angular velocity

N/A

 

3

nominal

MPC

 

06

angular velocity

N/A

 

3

Pert_5

MPC

5% perturbation in model parameters

07

Linear velocity

Yes

nominal

1

Pert_5

MPC

5% perturbation in model parameters

08

angular velocity

N/A

 

3

nominal

MPC

windy conditions

09

Linear velocity

Yes

nominal

1

nominal

MPC

windy conditions

10

Start-finish

Yes

nominal

4

nominal

MPC

 

11

angular velocity

N/A

 

5

nominal

MPC

 

12

angular velocity

N/A

 

5

Ail_Elev_50

MPC (fault unaware)

50% loss of control surface

       

efficiency

13

angular velocity

N/A

 

5

Ail_Elev_50

MPC (fault aware)

50% loss of control surface

       

efficiency

14

Start-finish

N/A

 

4

Ail_0

Rudder for yaw

100% loss of aileron efficiency

15

waypoints

Yes

rud_0

2

Rud_0

MPC (fault aware)

100% loss of rudder efficiency

16

Start-finish

Yes

 

4

Elev_0

Throttle for pitch

100% loss of elevator efficiency

17

Linear velocity

Yes

mot_0

1

mot_0

MPC (fault aware)

100% loss of thrust

29

angular velocity

N/A

 

3

aero_small

MPC (fault aware)

Small aerodynamics damage

30

angular velocity

N/A

 

3

aero_small

MPC (fault unaware)

Small aerodynamics damage

31

angular velocity

N/A

 

3

aero_large

MPC (fault aware)

Large aerodynamics damage

33

angular velocity

N/A

 

3

one_ail

MPC (fault aware)

Only one aileron operational

34

Linear velocity

Yes

nominal

1

nominal

MPC

Airspeed sensor fault

35

Linear velocity

Yes

nominal

1

nominal

MPC

AoA estimation using [33]

36

Linear velocity

Yes

nominal

1

nominal

MPC

AoA estimation using proposed

       

estimator

38

Linear velocity

Yes

nominal

1

nominal

MPC

Same as 01 but with wind gusts.

39

Start-finish

Yes

mot_0

N/A

mot_0

N/A (Planner only)

Emergency landing

40

Start-finish

Yes

left_turn

N/A

left_turn

N/A (Planner only)

Planning with only left turns

Appendix C: Index of Scenario References

Reference Index

Reference Description

1

Demanding trajectory (velocity) profile

2

Back-and-forth waypoints on different

 

altitudes

3

Demanding angular rate profile

4

Extensive waypoint mission

5

Mild angular rate profile

Glossary

b

wingspan

c

mean chord

\(c_{\left \{ \cdot \right \}}\)

aerodynamic coefficient

C T

Propeller thrust coefficient

D

propeller diameter

δ a

aileron input

δ e

elevator input

δ F

thrust input

δ t

throttle input

δ r

rudder input

J A R

propeller advance ratio

l

aerodynamic rolling moment

m

aerodynamic pitching moment

m

aircraft mass

n

aerodynamic yawing moment

p n

position North

p e

position East

p d

position down

q

pitch rate

\(\bar {q}\)

dynamic pressure

r

yaw rate

S

wing surface area

V a

airspeed

w n

wind North

w e

wind East

w d

wind down

α

angle of attack

β

angle of sideslip

γ

flight path angle

Γ ⋅,J y

inertia tensor coefficients

𝜃

pitch angle

ϕ

roll angle

ψ

yaw angle

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Zogopoulos-Papaliakos, G., Karras, G.C. & Kyriakopoulos, K.J. A Fault-Tolerant Control Scheme for Fixed-Wing UAVs with Flight Envelope Awareness. J Intell Robot Syst 102, 46 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-021-01393-3

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