Model-Based Approaches for Fast and Robust Fault Detection in an Aircraft Control Surface Servo Loop: From Theory to Flight Tests [Applications of Control]

Many innovative solutions have been developed by the aeronautical sector toward achieving the future "sustainable" aircraft that will be cleaner, quieter, smarter, and more affordable. Weight reduction is one of the most significant contributors to sustainability, as it improves aircraft performance (fuel consumption, noise, range) and consequently decreases its environmental footprint. This article deals with two challenging electrical flight control system (EFCS) failure cases, which may affect structural loading. A simple model-based approach is presented for the robust and rapid detection of such failures. The techniques were tested and validated at the Airbus test facility, and real flight tests have confirmed that a high level of performance and robustness can be obtained.

[1]  Jérôme Cieslak,et al.  A Model-based Solution to Robust and Early Detection of Control Surface Runaways , 2011 .

[2]  Andres Marcos,et al.  Advanced Diagnosis for Sustainable Flight Guidance and Control: The European ADDSAFE Project , 2011 .

[3]  Ihab Samy,et al.  Fault Detection and Flight Data Measurement: Demonstrated on Unmanned Air Vehicles using Neural Networks , 2011 .

[4]  Ali Zolghadri,et al.  A Nonlinear Observer-Based Strategy for Aircraft Oscillatory Failure Detection: A380 Case Study , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[5]  Philippe Goupil,et al.  AIRBUS state of the art and practices on FDI and FTC in flight control system , 2011 .

[6]  Ali Zolghadri,et al.  Advanced model-based FDIR techniques for aerospace systems: Today challenges and opportunities , 2012 .

[7]  Ali Zolghadri,et al.  A redundancy-based strategy for safety management in a modern civil aircraft , 2000 .

[8]  C. Favre,et al.  Fly-by-wire for commercial aircraft: the Airbus experience , 1994 .

[9]  Ihab Samy,et al.  Fault Detection and Flight Data Measurement , 2011 .

[10]  Isabelle Lacaze,et al.  Airbus fly-by-wire - A total approach to dependability , 2004, IFIP Congress Topical Sessions.

[11]  Ali Zolghadri,et al.  Improving fault detection abilities of extended Kalman filters by covariance matrices adjustment , 2010, 2010 Conference on Control and Fault-Tolerant Systems (SysTol).

[12]  Christopher Edwards,et al.  Fault Tolerant Flight Control , 2010 .

[13]  Stephen Osder,et al.  Practical View of Redundancy Management Application and Theory , 1999 .

[14]  Jérôme Cieslak,et al.  Fault diagnosis and monitoring of oscillatory failure case in aircraft inertial system , 2012 .

[15]  A.K. Caglayan,et al.  Detection, Identification and Estimation of Surface Damage/Actuator Failure for High Performance Aircraft , 1988, 1988 American Control Conference.

[16]  Philippe Goupil,et al.  A High Fidelity AIRBUS Benchmark for System Fault Detection and Isolation and Flight Control Law Clearance , 2013 .

[17]  Denis Efimov,et al.  A LPV approach for early fault detection in aircraft control surfaces servo-loops , 2012 .

[18]  Andres Marcos,et al.  Industrial benchmarking and evaluation of ADDSAFE FDD designs , 2012 .

[19]  Inseok Hwang,et al.  A Survey of Fault Detection, Isolation, and Reconfiguration Methods , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.

[20]  Robert F. Stengel,et al.  Restructurable control using proportional-integral implicit model following , 1990 .

[21]  Ali Zolghadri.  Early warning and prediction of flight parameter abnormalities for improved system safety assessment , 2002, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[22]  Jérôme Cieslak,et al.  Early detection of aircraft control surface faults by dedicated Kalman filtering: runaways and jammings , 2011 .