Fault-tolerant control systems design using the linear matrix inequality method

This paper discusses an approach to robust control law design for fault-tolerant systems. Based on the assumption that the effects of faults can be expressed in Linear-Fractional-Transformation (LFT) forms, a fault-tolerant control systems design problem is formulated and solved via a linear matrix inequality (LMI)-based synthesis approach, to recover the convexity of the design problem whilst considering the robust performance and robust stability against faults and uncertainties simultaneously, a constrained optimisation approach is used. The simulation results of a design example (a longitudinal motion flight control problem for an unmanned aircraft in the case of suffering battle damage on its wing) shows that the robust stability and satisfactory performance are achievable.