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This paper proposes a novel adaptive sliding-mode-based control allocation scheme for accommodating simultaneous actuator faults. The proposed control scheme includes two separate control modules with virtual control part and control allocation part, respectively. As a low-level control module, the control allocation/reallocation scheme is used to distribute/redistribute virtual control signals among the available actuators under fault-free or faulty conditions, respectively. In the case of simultaneous actuator faults, the control allocation and reallocation module may fail to meet the required virtual control signal, which will degrade the overall system stability. The proposed online adaptive scheme can seamlessly adjust the control gains for the high-level sliding mode control module and reconfigure the distribution of control signals to eliminate the effect of the virtual control error and maintain the stability of the closed-loop system. In addition, with the help of the boundary layer for constructing the adaptation law, the overestimation of control gains is avoided, and the adaptation ceases once the sliding variable is within the boundary layer. A significant feature of this study is that the stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed theoretically in the presence of simultaneous actuator faults. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is demonstrated by experimental results based on a modified unmanned multirotor helicopter under both single and simultaneous actuator faults conditions with comparison to a conventional sliding mode controller and a linear quadratic regulator scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article proposes a safety control scheme for quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to counteract ground effect and blade damage. The impacts of ground effect and blade damage are quantitatively analyzed in the established model. The proposed safety control scheme consists of position and attitude loops. Specifically, a proportional and derivative controller is designed as a baseline control with acceleration feedforward in the position loop. A disturbance observer (DO) using the measured Euler angles is exploited to estimate the lumped disturbance forces. The developed DO can effectively mitigate the estimation deviation caused by the angle tracking error. Subsequently, differential flatness theory is used to obtain the Euler angle references and the derivatives. In the attitude loop, sliding mode control and fixed-time sliding mode observer (SMO) are integrated to deal with ground effect and blade damage promptly. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed safety control scheme, flight experiments are carried out, where the quadrotor UAV flies close to the rugged ground in the presence of blade damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fault-tolerant control approach without rate sensors is presented for the attitude stabilization of a satellite being developed. External disturbances, reaction wheel faults, actuator saturation, and unavailable angular velocity are addressed. A sliding-mode observer is proposed by using attitude feedback only, and the unavailable angular velocity is estimated by this observer in finite time. Using the attitude and the estimated velocity, another sliding-mode observer is proposed to reconstruct actuator faults and disturbances. It is proven that reconstruction with zero observer error is achieved in finite time. With the reconstructed value, a velocity-free controller is then developed to asymptotically stabilize the attitude. Simulation results are also provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]