Sampled-data sliding mode observer for robust fault reconstruction: A time-delay approach

A sliding mode observer in the presence of sampled output information and its application to robust fault reconstruction is studied. The observer is designed by using the delayed continuous-time representation of the sampled-data system, for which sufficient conditions are given in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) to guarantee the ultimate boundedness of the error dynamics. Though an ideal sliding motion cannot be achieved in the observer when the outputs are sampled, ultimately bounded solutions can be obtained provided the sampling frequency is fast enough. The bound on the solution is proportional to the sampling interval and the magnitude of the switching gain. The proposed observer design is applied to the problem of fault reconstruction under sampled outputs and system uncertainties. It is shown that actuator or sensor faults can be reconstructed reliably from the output error dynamics. An example of observer design for an inverted pendulum system is used to demonstrate the merit of the proposed methodology compared to existing sliding mode observer design approaches.