Enhancing the actuator fault tolerance in autonomous overactuated vehicles via adaptive control allocation

This paper presents an adaptive actuator allocation scheme that is fault-tolerant with respect to actuator faults and loss of effectiveness. The main idea is to use an ad-hoc online parameter estimator coupled with an allocation algorithm to perform on-line control reconfiguration whenever necessary. A preliminary algorithm is proposed for nonlinear discrete-time systems. Its main properties are summarized in the disturbance-free case and its effectiveness shown by means of two numerical examples, the second one dealing with driving/braking loss of effectiveness due to tire/surface contact force variations in 4WS4WD terrestrial vehicles.