Robust Model Reference Fault Detection and Identification System for Fixed Wing Aircrafts

Fault Detection and Identification system (FDI) and Fault Tolerant Flight Control (FTFC) system are used to correct the faulty operation of an aircraft. Both FDIs and FTFCs have operational disadvantages due to their inherent limitation of fault source identification. This paper presents the design and implementation of a robust model reference fault detection and identification (MRFDI) system on a fixed-wing aircraft for identifying actuator fault, instrument fault and presence of any uncertainties. The proposed MRDFI fuses the real-time parameters and actuator feedback to combine the advantages of data driven and model reference FDI that makes robust fault estimation. The MRFDI system is implemented on a typical aircraft altitude hold autopilot simulation environment with a predefined fault scenario. The fault scenario includes a faulty elevator, a faulty skin-implantable sensor and wind gust as environmental uncertainty. The MRFDI performs logical analysis to detect fault using state-dependent real-time parameters and state-independent skin implantable sensor. This two-step fault detection method makes MRFDI robust to any type of fault identification. The results show that the MRFDI detects and distinguishes faults in actuator, instrument and any of the listed uncertainties thrown by the environment accurately.