Satellite gyroscopes fault diagnosis based on numerical differentiation scheme

A novel fault diagnosis approach for gyroscopes in satellites is proposed in this paper. The fault diagnosis problem is transformed to calculation of numerical differentiation by using the concept of algebraic observable. Based on the satellite attitude kinematics equation, it is proved that the fault of gyroscopes is algebraic observable. And then the numerical derivatives of the measurement outputs of attitude sensors are approximated via high gain observers analyzed and designed by the Lyapunov stability theory. Since the fault of gyroscopes is algebraic observable and the numerical derivative of the measurement of attitude sensors is available, the gyroscope faults can be estimated directly. Finally, numerical simulations for several fault scenarios are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the fault diagnosis scheme. Simulation results demonstrate that the presented method can not only detect the occurence of faults, but also estimate their magnitudes.