Sensor Installation for Data Fusion for Detecting UAV Control Surface Fault

System redundancy in aircraft is very important as it ensures faulty components would not jeopardize the safety of crew and passengers. High priority system such as flight control computers, instruments system and controller for control surface mechanism have double or triple redundancy to maintain the aircraft safety. While full scale aircraft has multiple redundancy system installed, small unmanned aerial vehicle on the other hand do not have these system installed due to cost and weight. Propulsion, either fuel or electric powered and control surface movement are prone to damage due to wear and tear of mechanical movement. Severe damage could occur if the UAV lost control of its control surface. Elevator system fault would result in the most severe as it controls the vertical movement of the UAV. This research presents the initial development of a fault recovery system by changing the pitching movement control by the elevator to stabilator control. This paper in particular would discuss the approach to construct the sensor system for detecting and identifying the fault of control surface of small UAV during the flight. Servo fault detection would be used as the basis of providing suitable recovery scheme. Fast detection and recovery with light weight system are the main parameters that are considered during evaluation and development stage. The outputs of these sensors in normal and abnormal condition of elevator have been determined for the development of fault detection and identification scheme.