Patent ID: 7454255

Claim:
A method for controlling a dynamical system, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting a control signal to an actuator of said dynamical system, wherein said dynamical system comprises at least two actuators; receiving a sensor signal from said actuator, wherein said sensor signal consists of a measured position of said actuator and said actuator has an unmeasurable actuator rate; generating an estimate of said unmeasurable actuator rate: processing said control signal and said sensor signal without knowledge of the overall state of said dynamical system, to obtain an estimate of one or more health state parameters associated with said actuator, and adjusting said estimate of said health state parameters based on said estimate of said unmeasurable actuator rate, wherein said estimate of said health state parameters is based on a mathematical model of second-order dynamics of said actuator and said processing comprises the step of comparing said measured position with a predicted position of said actuator; detecting and identifying failure conditions of said actuator based on said estimate of said health state parameters; and generating a retrofit control signal and adding said retrofit control signal to said control signal to compensate for said failure conditions.