Active aircraft fault detection and isolation

In this paper, we describe development and analysis of an active fault detection and isolation system for the commuter and business aircraft. To accommodate faults wherever possible, we develop an algorithm that can reliably detect and isolate system faults with minimal disruption of normal aircraft operations. We define several candidate fault scenarios (e.g., aircraft icing, faults of control surface actuators, stuck or floating control surfaces, etc.) that are common occurrences, and construct a jet aircraft model, suitable for simulation studies. Aircraft faults are detected and isolated using a hierarchy of techniques. Successive layers in the hierarchy are increasingly invasive, higher layers being invoked only when lower layers indicate a potential problem.