Fault-tolerant cooperative control for multiple UAVs based on sliding mode techniques

• Published in: Science China. Information sciences Vol. 60; no. 7; pp. 50 - 62
• Main Authors: Li, Peng, Yu, Xiang, Peng, Xiaoyan, Zheng, Zhiqiang, Zhang, Youmin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Science China Press 01.07.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Actuators; Communication; Computer Science; Cooperative control; Design; Fault tolerance; Information Systems and Communication Service; Proportional control; Reference signals; Research Paper; Sliding mode control; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Vehicles; 协同控制; 容错; 执行器故障; 故障信息; 无人机; 无人飞行器; 有限时间; 滑模技术; finite-time fault accommodation; unmanned aerial vehicle; actuator faults; fault-tolerant cooperative control
• ISSN: 1674-733X; 1869-1919
• DOI: 10.1007/s11432-016-9074-8

This paper proposes a fault-tolerant cooperative control（FTCC） design approach for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles（UAVs）, where the outer-loop control and the inner-loop fault accommodation are explicitly considered. The reference signals for the inner-loop of the follower UAV can be directly produced by resorting to a proportional control. In the presence of actuator faults, the estimation of the fault information can be completed within finite time. Moreover, the control of the inner-loop is reconfigured based on the fault information adaptation and sliding mode techniques, such that the deleterious effects due to failed actuators can be compensated within finite time. Simulations of UAV cooperative flight are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of this FTCC scheme.