Adaptive control of a high redundancy actuator using the geometric approach

The High Redundancy Actuator project deals with the construction of an actuator using many redundant actuation elements. Whilst this promises a high degree of fault tolerance, the high number of components poses a unique challenge from a control perspective, especially when actuation elements are used in series. This paper describes how an adaptive control scheme can be used to deal with faults in a High Redundancy Actuator. This is based on previous results leading to a simplified model of the HRA with serial elements. In case of the fault, the parameters change, but the otherwise the deviation from the simplified model is minimal. This approach has two benefits. For one, it can restore the original system dynamics even after a fault has occurred. The parameter estimate can also be used for health monitoring purposes, because it reflects the number of effective faults in the HRA.