Actuator failures compensation: a sliding mode control approach

This paper addresses the problem of accommodating actuator failures for an uncertain linear plant. This latter undergoes failures causing the plant input components to be stuck at some unknown but bounded time varying functions. A sliding mode control policy is presented, guaranteeing fault detection and the identification of the failed actuator component by means of a suitable test input. Once the failed component has been identified, the control law is reconfigured, redistributing the control activity among the controllers still working. The proposed controller has been tested by simulation on a benchmark problem