Design and aircraft‐in‐the‐loop validation of structured‐H_∞ self‐scheduled fault‐tolerant controllers

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a self‐scheduled fault‐tolerant controller for the lateral/directional motion of MuPAL‐ research aircraft using a polynomial‐scheduled structured H control. The controller is designed to be tolerant against loss‐of‐efficiency faults in the aileron and rudder, but based on industrial best practices it is scheduled with respect to an overall fault level instead of with respect to the individual faults. The performance and robustness of the resulting controller is verified first using frequency and time domain analysis, and subsequently it is validated in the Aircraft‐In‐the‐Loop configuration of MuPAL‐, where the real aircraft is operated in research Fly‐By‐Wire mode by the pilot on‐ground while coupled to an emulation computer that simulates the aircraft flying motion. The results show good behavior of the controlled aircraft across the defined fault scenarios.