Accurate state estimation for a hydraulic actuator via a SDRE nonlinear filter

The state estimation in hydraulic actuators is a fundamental tool for the detection of faults or a valid alternative to the installation of sensors. Due to the hard nonlinearities that characterize the hydraulic actuators, the performances of the linear/linearization based techniques for the state estimation are strongly limited. In order to overcome these limits, this paper focuses on an alternative nonlinear estimation method based on the State-Dependent-Riccati-Equation (SDRE). The technique is able to fully take into account the system nonlinearities and the measurement noise. A fifth order nonlinear model is derived and employed for the synthesis of the estimator. Simulations and experimental tests have been conducted and comparisons with the largely used Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) are illustrated. The results show the effectiveness of the SDRE based technique for applications characterized by not negligible nonlinearities such as dead zone and frictions.