Failure sensitizing reconfigurable control design

The design of reconfigurable controls for fault-tolerant control systems is considered. The issue of performance robustness during the system´s normal operation versus failure sensitivity at the time of a system component failure sensitivity at the time of a system component failure is addressed from the control design point of view. A criterion is proposed that balances the competing interests. The existence of an optimized solution under the criterion is proved. An example involving aircraft surface impairment is given to explain the procedure for obtaining the optimized design, and to demonstrate enhanced overall system performance achieved by the design under the proposed criterion