Fault detection and accommodation in nonlinear time-delay systems

Fault detection, estimation and compensation problem for a class of disturbance given time delay nonlinear systems is addressed. The proposed approach relies on an iterative learning observer (ILO) for fault detection and estimation. Under no faults, the ILO supplies accurate disturbance estimation where the effect of disturbances on estimation error dynamics can be accordingly attenuated. The proposed ILO can detect sudden changes in the nonlinear system. Thus the ILO is used to excite an adaptive control law in order to offset the effect of faults on the system dynamics. In addition, the ILO-based adaptive fault compensation strategy can handle multiple faults. The fault detection and compensation strategy is demonstrated in simulation on an automotive engine problem.