Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Tracking Control of Near-Space Vehicle Using Takagi–Sugeno Fuzzy Models

Based on the adaptive-control technique, this paper deals with the problem of fault-tolerant tracking control for near-space-vehicle (NSV) attitude dynamics. First, Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy models are used to describe the NSV attitude dynamics; then, an actuator-fault model is developed. Next, an adaptive fault-tolerant tracking-control scheme is proposed based on the online estimation of actuator faults, in which a compensation control term is introduced in order to reduce the effect of actuator faults. Compared with some existing results of fault-tolerant control (FTC) in nonlinear systems, the technique presented in this paper is not dependent on fault detection and isolation (FDI) mechanism and is easy to implement in aerospace-engineering applications. Finally, simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness and potential of the proposed FTC scheme.