Sensors 2010, 10(3), 2188-2201; doi:10.3390/s100302188
Article

Virtual Sensor for Failure Detection, Identification and Recovery in the Transition Phase of a Morphing Aircraft

Guillermo Heredia 1,* email and Aníbal Ollero 1,2 email
1 Robotics, Vision and Control Group, University of Seville, Camino de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092, Seville, Spain 2 Aerospace Technologies Advanced Center (CATEC), Aeropolis, 41309, Seville, Spain
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 7 January 2010; in revised form: 19 February 2010 / Accepted: 21 February 2010 / Published: 17 March 2010
(This article belongs to the Section Physical Sensors)
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Abstract: The Helicopter Adaptive Aircraft (HADA) is a morphing aircraft which is able to take-off as a helicopter and, when in forward flight, unfold the wings that are hidden under the fuselage, and transfer the power from the main rotor to a propeller, thus morphing from a helicopter to an airplane. In this process, the reliable folding and unfolding of the wings is critical, since a failure may determine the ability to perform a mission, and may even be catastrophic. This paper proposes a virtual sensor based Fault Detection, Identification and Recovery (FDIR) system to increase the reliability of the HADA aircraft. The virtual sensor is able to capture the nonlinear interaction between the folding/unfolding wings aerodynamics and the HADA airframe using the navigation sensor measurements. The proposed FDIR system has been validated using a simulation model of the HADA aircraft, which includes real phenomena as sensor noise and sampling characteristics and turbulence and wind perturbations.
Keywords: virtual sensors; UAVs; fault detection; identification and recovery; morphing aircraft

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Heredia, G.; Ollero, A. Virtual Sensor for Failure Detection, Identification and Recovery in the Transition Phase of a Morphing Aircraft. Sensors 2010, 10, 2188-2201.

AMA Style

Heredia G, Ollero A. Virtual Sensor for Failure Detection, Identification and Recovery in the Transition Phase of a Morphing Aircraft. Sensors. 2010; 10(3):2188-2201.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Heredia, Guillermo; Ollero, Aníbal. 2010. "Virtual Sensor for Failure Detection, Identification and Recovery in the Transition Phase of a Morphing Aircraft." Sensors 10, no. 3: 2188-2201.

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