A regulator design to address actuator failures

When an actuator fails and jams, it not only reduces the control authority but also presents a persistent disturbance to the system. In this paper we propose a regulator design to address the actuator failure. A set of regulator controllers are designed for all possible actuator failures and a switching mechanism determines which controller to step in to address the specific actuator failure. The mechanism needs to detect the dysfunctional actuators; however, the actuator´s jam position is not necessarily known. The controller has the capability of regulating against all persistent disturbances with unknown magnitude. An automatic carrier landing system with jammed control surfaces is employed to illustrate the proposed design strategy