Robust Sliding Mode Observers in Fault-Tolerant Heading Control System of Unmanned Surface Vehicles

The problem of designing fault-tolerant heading control system for unmanned surface vehicles is discussed. The heading control system is implemented under external disturbances and faults of measurement sensors. The controller is synthesized based on the modal control principles, where the controller parameters are selected so that the transient time is set and the error of control is limited. It is proposed to apply the model-based approach using the robust sliding mode observers to detect and identify faults. It is assumed that the initial dynamic system can be structurally transformed into two subsystems where the first subsystem has only external disturbances and the second subsystem has only sensor faults. As an example, the motion model for a heavy unmanned surface vehicle in the horizontal plane is considered. The effect of different faults in heading control system sensors is investigated.