Active fault-tolerant control for an internet-based networked three-tank system

Abstract

This brief is concerned with the active fault-tolerant control (FTC) problem for an Internet-based networked three-tank system (INTTS) serving as a benchmark system for evaluating networked FTC algorithms. The INTTS has two parts located at Tsinghua University in China and at the University of South Wales in the U.K., respectively, which are connected via the Internet. With the INTTS as an experimental platform, the active FTC problem is investigated for a class of nonlinear networked systems subject to partial actuator failures. Once a specific actuator failure is detected and confirmed by a fault diagnosis unit, the control law is then reconfigured based on the information of the detected fault. Both the stability and the acceptable H∞ disturbance attenuation level are guaranteed for the closed-loop system using the remaining reliable actuators. Extensive experiments are carried out on the active FTC problem of the INTTS with partial actuator failures, and the effectiveness of the proposed scheme is illustrated.