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Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Control Evaluations Under Sensor and Actuator Faults

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Abstract

Nonlinear aircraft controlled by its linearized model based controller will be asymptotically stable if its trajectories originating from various initial conditions are all contained in the stability region (or the region of attraction). In such a stable aircraft, suppose a sensor or an actuator fault occurs. Depending upon the fault size, the stability region is modified. As a result, the trajectories for a potential failure to contain in the modified stability region could lead to flight control degradation. In this paper, first, a stability margin is determined to separate an acceptable fault size from an unacceptable fault. Secondly, with an acceptable fault size, the aircraft will remain stable in distorted stability regions. In this paper, admissible control inputs which generate the perturbed trajectories in the distorted stability regions is presented for safe unmanned aerial vehicle flight control evaluations. A three degree of freedom aircraft in pitch plane is considered to illustrate the stability margins and control inputs that are safe to operate the damaged aircraft.

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Author notes

  1. Chimpalthradi R. Ashokkumar

    Present address: Sierra Nevada Corporation Space Systems, Louisville, CO, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, 80840-6200, USA

    Chimpalthradi R. Ashokkumar & George W. P. York

  2. NRC Postdoctoral Research Associate, USAF Academy Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research, CO, USA

    Chimpalthradi R. Ashokkumar

  3. USAF Academy Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, CO, USA

    George W. P. York

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  1. Chimpalthradi R. Ashokkumar
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Correspondence to Chimpalthradi R. Ashokkumar.

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Ashokkumar, C.R., York, G.W.P. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Control Evaluations Under Sensor and Actuator Faults. J Intell Robot Syst 88, 437–447 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-017-0514-9

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