Strack van Schijndel, Bram Adriaan (Delft University of Technology), Sun, Sihao (University of Twente), de Visser, Cornelis C. (Delft University of Technology)

Fast Quadrotor Rotor Failure Detection and Identification Using Onboard Sensors and a Kalman Filter Approach

Scheduled for presentation during the Regular Session "Fail-Safe Systems" (WeA1), Wednesday, June 7, 2023, 11:00−11:20, Room 118

2023 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), June 6-9, 2023, Lazarski University, Warsaw, Poland

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on April 24, 2024

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method for fast and robust detection of actuator failures on quadrotors. The proposed algorithm has very little model dependency. A Kalman estimator estimates a stochastic effectiveness factor for every actuator, using only onboard RPM, gyro and accelerometer measurements. Then, a hypothesis test identifies the failed actuator. This algorithm is validated online in real-time, also as part of an active fault tolerant control system. Loss of actuator effectiveness is induced by ejecting the propellers from the motors. The robustness of this algorithm is further investigated offline over a range of parameter settings by replaying real flight data containing 26 propeller ejections. The detection delays are found to be in the 30～130 ms range, without missed detections or false alarms occurring.