FDI for a Mars orbiting satellite based on a sliding mode observer scheme

In this paper the design of sliding mode observers for gyro and thruster fault detection and isolation in the Mars Express satellite is presented. The results are part of a project with the goal of examining the potential applicability of the sliding mode observer technique to on-board satellite deployment. A Monte Carlo campaign has been performed to assess the performance and robustness of the sliding mode FDI observers for the rigid satellite model with variations in initial conditions and parametric uncertainty. The results indicate that the observers provide good potential to isolate gyro and thruster faults. No effort were made at this stage to implement a threshold logic, but preliminary implementations are promising.