Adaptive fault-tolerant control for a VTVL reusable launch vehicle

• Published in: Acta astronautica Vol. 159; pp. 362 - 370
• Main Authors: Zhang, Liang, Wei, Changzhu, Wu, Rong, Cui, Naigang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elmsford Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Actuators; Adaptive control; Aerospace industry; Attitude control; Attitude tracking control; Computer simulation; Control systems design; Controllers; Convergence; Disturbances; Fault tolerance; Fault tolerant control; Faults; Fixed-time extended state observer; Kinematics; Launch vehicles; Multinational space ventures; Nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control; Numerical simulations; Parameter uncertainty; Reusable launch vehicles; Sliding mode control; State observers; Tracking control; Tracking errors; Vertical landing; Vertical take-off and vertical landing vehicle; Nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control; Attitude tracking control; Vertical take-off and vertical landing vehicle; Fixed-time extended state observer; Fault tolerant control
• ISSN: 0094-5765; 1879-2030
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.03.078

This paper mainly focuses on the attitude tracking controller design for a vertical take-off and vertical landing (VTVL) reusable launch vehicle in regardless of uncertain parameters, un-modeled dynamics, external disturbances and actuator faults. Starting from the kinematics and dynamics model of the VTVL, the attitude tracking error model subject to grid fin faults is built. A novel fixed-time extended state observer (FxTESO) is presented to estimate the derivative of the attitude tracking error and the lumped disturbances including grid fin faults and other uncertainties. Subsequently, a novel nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode surface (NFTSMS) is designed using the FxTESO, which has faster convergence performances than the traditional sliding mode surface. Finally, an adaptive fault-tolerant control scheme is proposed by utilizing the FxTESO, the proposed NFTSMS and the nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control with an adaptive gain. The proposed controller achieves faster convergence speed and shorter reaching time. Both adaptive fault-tolerant controller and NFTSMS are proved by Lyapunov theory. The performances of the proposed control scheme are demonstrated by numerical simulations. •A new VTVL reusable launch vehicle was studied.•A novel FxTESO was presented to simplify the control system and reduce the knowledge of the model parameters.•A novel NFTSMS was designed to achieve faster convergence performances and better singularity-free property.•An adaptive fault-tolerant control scheme with an adaptive gain was proposed.