Finite-time extended state observer based fault tolerant output feedback control for UAV attitude stabilization under actuator failures and disturbances

This chapter investigates the finite-time fault tolerant attitude stabilization control for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) without the angular velocity measurements, in the presence of external disturbances and actuator failures. Firstly, a novel continuous finite-time Extended State Observer is established to observe the unmeasurable attitude angular velocity and synthetic failure simultaneously. Unlike the existing observers, the finite-time methodology and Extended State Observer are utilized, the attitude angular velocity and extended state observation errors are realized to be the uniformly ultimately finite-time bounded stable. Furthermore, based on the nonsingular terminal sliding mode control and supertwisting method, a novel continuous finite-time attitude controller is developed for fast robust fault tolerant attitude control. The main feature of this work stems from the multiply advanced techniques or methodologies. It enables the finite-time stability of the closed-loop attitude control system and the designed control scheme to be continuous with the property of chattering restraining. Finally, some numerical simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness and fine performances of the UAV attitude stabilization control system driven by the proposed finite-time robust fault tolerant attitude control scheme.