Sensor fault-tolerant observer applied in UAV anti-skid braking control under control input constraint

This paper proposes a method for addressing the problem of sensor fault-tolerant control (FTC) for anti-skid braking systems (ABSs). When the wheel velocity sensor of the ABS for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) becomes faulty, wheel velocity failure and feedback instability may occur. Firstly, a fault diagnosis and isolation (FDI) method based on a sliding mode observer approach is introduced to detect and isolate the fault of the sensor. When the wheel velocity sensor is in healthy conditions, the observer works in a diagnosis mode. If faults occur in the sensor, it acts as a wheel velocity estimator. Secondly, an FTC strategy, adopting a feedback compensation structure, is designed with input control constraints. In addition, based on the FDI result, a terminal sliding mode (TSM) controller is designed to guarantee that slip-ratio tracks its appropriate reference values in situations where runways change conditions during landing. The control system switches automatically from control using a wheel velocity sensor to sensorless control mode, so the observer-based FTC scheme is established. It is logical that the ABS keeps observed-state and remains stable when the wheel velocity sensor is broken and during external disturbance. Finally, simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.