General Theory of Observers

Abstract

One of the important elements of a SRFC system is monitoring. Although there are many approaches to monitoring, one technique involves the generation of residuals that carry information about the failures. A residual is generated by differencing the actual output of a sensor and an estimate of the same output based on the response of a failure designed for this purpose. The most common method for generating residuals in SRFC systems is to use observers or state estimators which require a precise model of the aircraft (Richards, 1979). Therefore this chapter will, in particular, be dealing with the general theory and design techniques of observers.