Finite-Time Fault-Tolerant Control for a Coaxial Tilt-Rotor eVTOL Under a Rotor Fault

This article proposes a finite-time fault-tolerant control (FTFTC) strategy for a coaxial tilt-rotor electric vertical takeoff and landing (CTR-eVTOL) aircraft. The proposed FTFTC strategy consists of a velocity controller, an attitude controller, and a faulty factor observer. The faulty factor observer is specifically designed based on the specific configuration of the CTR-eVTOL. Unlike most of the existing FTC strategies, which treat rotor faults as lumped disturbance forces/torques, the proposed FTFTC can accurately estimate the faulty factor and compensate for the influences of rotor faults. Moreover, the FTFTC can theoretically guarantee finite-time convergence of the faulty factor estimation error, attitude tracking error, and velocity tracking error, thereby achieving faster convergence speeds and enhanced robustness. The efficacy and superiority of the designed FTFTC strategy are validated through the simulation and experimental tests.