Fault-Tolerant Control for A Class of Switched Nonlinear Systems with Actuator Faults

This article studies the fault-tolerant control (FTC) issue of a class of nonlinear switching systems with actuator faults. To estimate states that are not available, a high-gain observer is utilized to eliminate the influence of inaccurate estimation of nonlinear function on state estimation, which is difficult for traditional observers to achieve. The fault-tolerant controller proposed in this article is based on a backstepping design approach, which successfully addresses actuator faults and resists time-varying disturbances caused by faults. At the same time, the output signal is capable of tracking the desired output signal effectively. The switching strategy based on average dwell time (ADT), which is less conservative in practice, ensures the overall stability of the system and guarantees that all signals in the system are bound. The effectiveness of the presented approach is illustrated using the example of an electromagnetic suspension system.