Authors - A. Benini, F. Ferracuti, A. Monteriù, S. Radensleben
Abstract - This paper proposes an actuator fault detection algorithm for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), based on acceleration signals provided by a high-rate inertial measurement unit. The proposed algorithm is based on time and frequency-domain analysis of acceleration signals and features selection techniques in order to identify the most relevant frequencies of the spectrum and time-domain features involved in the occurrence of the fault.
The testing of the algorithm is focused on the damage of a propeller blade and the effects of such damage during vertical take-off and landing, where all the lift is generated by the propellers. The algorithm is tested on real data acquired on the Songbird VTOL UAV. The experimental results prove the possibility of using acceleration signals for diagnostic purposes on VTOL UAVs.
This paper is available on IEEE Xplore.