Fault-tolerant control allocation for octocopter UAV

A new fault-tolerant control allocation method is proposed for the octocopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with respect to the problem of actuator failure in the power system. A non-linear model of the UAV in the case of actuator failure is developed through kinematic and kinetic analyses, transforming the control allocation problem into a non-linear convex optimization problem that achieves the desired objective while satisfying the need for three-axis moments and given actuator position and rate constraints. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method have been simulated and verified on the Matlab experimental platform. The simulation results show that this method is more effective than the traditional control distribution method in solving the actuator velocity distribution problem when a local fault occurs in the eight-rotor UAV, and can achieve the desired attitude tracking.