An application of H∞ fault detection and isolation to a transport aircraft

This paper presents an application of H∞ fault detection and isolation (FDI) to the longitudinal motion of a Boeing 747-100/200 aircraft. FDI filters are synthesized for open-loop linear, time invariant (LTI) models of the aircraft to detect and isolate faults in the elevator actuator and pitch rate sensor while attenuating the effect of disturbances and noise on the fault signals. Simulations with a nonlinear B-747 aircraft model augmented with a flight controller in the presence of gust and noise validate the fault detection and isolation, the disturbance rejection, and the robust properties of the H∞ LTI FDI filters.