State estimation based actuator fault detection for tandem rotor helicopter with experimental validation

Timely fault detection is essential to flight safety of tandem rotor helicopter. In this paper, a fault detection method is proposed based on state estimation and the deviation between the measured value and the estimated value. Firstly, a polyhedral linear parameter varying (LPV) model is established to solve the nonlinear coupling problem of the helicopter in different moving directions. Then, to obtain actuator fault information, a robust state observer is developed to generate the residual. Meanwhile, a mixed [Formula: see text] algorithm is designed to calculate observer gain by configuring performance parameters, which makes the residuals both sensitive to actuator faults and robust to external disturbances. Furthermore, a dynamic threshold method is introduced to evaluate the residual signal for actuator fault detection. Finally, based on the 3-dof helicopter platform, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through comparative simulation and experimental tests.