Autonomous Fail-Active State-Space Fault Management

As NASA reaches out beyond Low Earth Orbit, we will increasingly rely of Autonomous/Robotic systems. These systems will need to be able to carry out their mission without human monitoring and management. This autonomy presents increasing challenges in fault detection and fault isolation to preserve the autonomous systems mission. The integration of a State Space based Fault Management Controller could have numerus advantages over the current approaches to Fault Management. There has been past research to equate Fault Management as a controller by Dr. Stephen Johnson et al, as well as research into the means to apply Fault Management as a controller by Dr. Peter Robinson et al. However, there has yet to be any known attempts to apply these theories. This project looks to standardize the Fault Management discipline within Modern Control Theory. The standard approach of kludging together a series of algorithms, which is both slow and requires large amounts of testing to ensure no deadly interactions exist. Fault Management as a Controller looks to use mathematical expressions, similar to the now standard and widely accepted process for developing GN&C or other control algorithms.

This project will mature fault management as an outer loop for traditional control systems from theory to practical implementation. This will be achieved through a generalized approach to the development and analysis of Fault Management as a mathematics-based control system rather than complex algorithms and code, as is traditionally done. This development supports a variety of missions but specifically addresses capability gaps in the following areas: 1.)Robustness to spacecraft faults, degradations, failures or other unexpected conditions (ASR-CC-HEALTH-001) 2.) Frequency of ground control contact and uplink/downlink command cycles necessary for surface science operations (Refer to ASR-AUTO-002) 3.) % Reduction in project software development cost (ASR-CC-ARCH) 4.) Applicable to Europa Lander, Gateway, Lunar Surface Habitat, Mars Habitats, and Mars Transportation Habitat and any future long duration, minimal Earth contact missions. 5.) Also power grids, nuclear power plants, and automotive.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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