Fault-Tolerant Control Based on Virtual Actuator and Sensor for Discrete-Time Descriptor Systems

This article proposes a fault-tolerant control (FTC) strategy based on virtual actuator and sensor for discrete-time descriptor systems subject to actuator and sensor faults. The fault-tolerant closed-loop system, which includes the nominal controller and observer, as well as the virtual actuator and the virtual sensor, hides the effects of faults. When an observer-based state-feedback law is considered, the existence of algebraic loop may prevent the practical implementation due to the current algebraic states depending on the current control input, that affects also the implementation of the virtual actuator/sensor. To deal with this issue, an observer-based delayed feedback controller and a delayed virtual actuator are proposed for discrete-time descriptor systems. Furthermore, the satisfaction of the separation principle is shown, and an improved admissibility condition is developed for the design of the controller and virtual actuator/sensor. Finally, some simulation results including an electrical circuit are used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methods.