Robust fault detection for a class of nonlinear time-delay systems

In this paper, the robust fault detection filter (RFDF) design problems are studied for nonlinear time-delay systems with unknown inputs. Firstly, a reference residual model is introduced to formulate the robust fault detection filter design problem as an H∞ model-matching problem. Then appropriate input/output selection matrices are introduced to extend a performance index to the time-delay systems in time domain. The reference residual model designed according to the performance index is an optimal residual generator, which takes into account the robustness against disturbances and sensitivity to faults simultaneously. Applying robust H∞ optimization control technique, the existence conditions of the robust fault detection filter for nonlinear time-delay systems with unknown inputs are presented in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI) formulation, independently of time delay. An illustrative design example is used to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the proposed approach.