Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2016.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mamela, Sandile Sithandwa Njabulo
Other Authors: Jones, Thomas
Format: Thesis
Language:en_ZA
Published: Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University 2016
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613747370000384
access_status_str Open Access
author Mamela, Sandile Sithandwa Njabulo
author2 Jones, Thomas
author_browse Jones, Thomas
Mamela, Sandile Sithandwa Njabulo
author_facet Jones, Thomas
Mamela, Sandile Sithandwa Njabulo
author_sort Mamela, Sandile Sithandwa Njabulo
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv Stellenbosch University
description Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2016.
format Thesis
id oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/100033
institution Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
language en_ZA
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:41:01.634Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
publisherStr Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
record_format dspace
source_str SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
spelling oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/100033 Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft Mamela, Sandile Sithandwa Njabulo Jones, Thomas Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. UCTD Fault tolerance (Engineering) Self-stabilization (Computer science) -- Airplanes Actuators -- Simulation methods Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2016. ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research is a continuation of a series of projects done at the Electronic Systems Laboratory (ESL) that deal with the design and development of Fault Tolerant Control Systems. The focus of this research is the design and development of a fault diagnostic system that allows an autonomous aircraft to automatically diagnose faults and reconfigure itself to maintain stable flight conditions. The motivation behind this research is to have the developed system be easily reconfigurable making it possible to use it in other UAVs at the ESL. The Meraka Modular UAV, developed at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was chosen as a test-bed for the Fault Detection, Isolation and Reconfiguration (FDIR) System. A nonlinear mathematical model of the flight dynamics of the Meraka Modular UAV is derived, linearised and discretised for control and FDIR system purposes. A Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is performed in order to characterise and identify critical subsystem components as a means of guiding the fault modelling and identification process. The Hybrid Diagnosis Engine (HyDE), developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, and an Approximate Input Reconstruction Algorithm are used together to give the Meraka Modular UAV fault diagnostic capabilities. An expandable FDIR architecture is developed to facilitate the addition of more FDIR methods in an effort to allow the fault diagnostic system’s functionality to be enhanced easily. The architecture was integrated based on the design of a simplified Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) System. This system consists of a Diagnostic Agent built into the ESL’s custom Ground Station, the Meraka Modular UAV, and a Diagnostic System that runs on a Model B+ Raspberry Pi. A high fidelity software in the loop simulation environment was used to test the integrated fault diagnostic system to ensure that it will function as expected in the field when used by the Meraka Modular UAV and Ground Station Operator to perform diagnoses. The fault diagnostic system is tested extensively by deliberately failing the UAV’s actuators during simulated flight. The performance of the system was then verified by using flight test data collected by the Meraka Modular UAV during flight missions. When compared with the associated FDIR research, the FDI performance of the fault diagnostic system is found to be sensitive to the use of filters and relatively agnostic to actuator excitation. For the Meraka Modular UAV in particular, it is found that the fault diagnostic system performs as expected in the presence of disturbances and noise and improvements can be made by incorporating additional points of observation. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar Masters 2016-12-22T13:07:39Z 2016-12-22T13:07:39Z 2016-12 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/100033 en_ZA Stellenbosch University xviii, 177 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
spellingShingle UCTD
Fault tolerance (Engineering)
Self-stabilization (Computer science) -- Airplanes
Actuators -- Simulation methods
Mamela, Sandile Sithandwa Njabulo
Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft
title Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft
title_full Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft
title_fullStr Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft
title_full_unstemmed Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft
title_short Fault detection, isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft
title_sort fault detection isolation and reconfiguration for autonomous aircraft
topic UCTD
Fault tolerance (Engineering)
Self-stabilization (Computer science) -- Airplanes
Actuators -- Simulation methods
url http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/100033
work_keys_str_mv AT mamelasandilesithandwanjabulo faultdetectionisolationandreconfigurationforautonomousaircraft