Adaptive fault tolerant control for a small coaxial rotor unmanned aerial vehicles with partial loss of actuator effectiveness

Abstract This paper investigates the trajectory tracking problem for a small coaxial-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (CRUAV) with partial loss of actuator effectiveness. The CRUAV model is decomposed into a dual loop structure based on back-stepping design idea. First, certain performance function specified a priori by the designer is introduced into the position loop such that the original position tracking error is transformed into an equivalent constrained variable providing for the performance judgment of the position loop. Then, a fault-tolerant control scheme is proposed based on adaptive strategies for compensating the effect caused by various adverse factors. Subsequently, an attitude control loop is derived by incorporating adaptive compensation method. It is proved that the proposed dual-loop structure is able to guarantee the satisfaction of the pre-specified constraint on the transformed errors. Finally, the effectiveness and benefits of the design dual-loop control system are validated via computer simulation.