Sensor fault detection in small autonomous helicopters using observer/Kalman filter identification

This paper presents a sensor fault detection and diagnosis system for small autonomous helicopters. Fault detection is accomplished by evaluating any significant change in the behaviour of the vehicle with respect to the fault-free behaviour, which is estimated by using an observer. The observer is obtained from input-output experimental data with the observer/Kalman filter identification method. The system is tested with real helicopter flight data.