Multiple model fault tolerant control using Globalized Dual Heuristic Programming

An advanced reconfigurable controller improved by a multiple model architecture is proposed as a tool to achieve fault tolerance in complex nonlinear systems. The most complete adaptive critic design, Globalized Dual Heuristic Programming (GDHP), constitutes a highly flexible nonlinear adaptive controller responsible for the generation of new control solutions for novel plant dynamics introduced by unknown faults. Working on a higher hierarchical level, the proposed supervisor makes use of two quality indexes to perform fault detection, identification and isolation based on the knowledge stored in a dynamic model bank. In the event of abrupt known faults, such knowledge is then used to greatly reduce the reconfiguration time of the GDHP controller. The synergy of the proposed supervisor and GDHP goes beyond, as solutions designed by the controller to previously unknown faults are autonomously added to the model bank. The fine interrelations among the algorithm´s subsystems are illustrated in a rich numerical simulation of a MIMO nonlinear system subject to different fault scenarios.