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Passive Fault Tolerance through Tension-to-Thrust Feed-Forward: Hybrid Input-to-State Stability for Decentralized Multi-UAV Slung-Load Transport under Abrupt Cable Severance

Summary

This paper presents a passive fault-tolerant architecture for multi-UAV slung-load transport experiencing abrupt cable severance. By directly feeding measured cable tension into each vehicle's altitude thrust command, the system achieves recovery without explicit fault diagnosis. Validated in simulation with five UAVs, the method maintains RMSE below 0.33 m and recovers within a single pendulum period.

SourcearXiv RoboticsAuthor: Hadi Hajieghrary, Paul Schmitt
Passive Fault Tolerance through Tension-to-Thrust Feed-Forward: Hybrid Input-to-State Stability for Decentralized Multi-UAV Slung-Load Transport under Abrupt Cable Severance
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[2605.05339] Passive Fault Tolerance through Tension-to-Thrust Feed-Forward: Hybrid Input-to-State Stability for Decentralized Multi-UAV Slung-Load Transport under Abrupt Cable Severance

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Computer Science > Robotics

arXiv:2605.05339 (cs)

[Submitted on 6 May 2026]

Title:Passive Fault Tolerance through Tension-to-Thrust Feed-Forward: Hybrid Input-to-State Stability for Decentralized Multi-UAV Slung-Load Transport under Abrupt Cable Severance

Authors:Hadi Hajieghrary, Paul Schmitt

View a PDF of the paper titled Passive Fault Tolerance through Tension-to-Thrust Feed-Forward: Hybrid Input-to-State Stability for Decentralized Multi-UAV Slung-Load Transport under Abrupt Cable Severance, by Hadi Hajieghrary and Paul Schmitt

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Abstract:Abrupt cable severance in multi-UAV slung-load transport redistributes load and changes the active constraint set, leaving limited time for fault diagnosis and reconfiguration. Existing controllers rely on coordinated force allocation, peer-state exchange, or fixed cable topology, and therefore lack a certified decentralized recovery mechanism for unannounced severance. We present a passive architecture that routes each vehicle's measured cable tension directly into its altitude thrust command, $T_i^{\mathrm{ff}}=T_i$, while a surrounding proportional-derivative, anti-swing, and projection cascade preserves local tracking feasibility. The main contribution is a conditional hybrid practical input-to-state-stability certificate that composes a slack-excursion-bounded taut-cable reduction, bounded post-severance Lyapunov jumps, inter-fault decay, and per-fault-cycle contraction $\rho \in (0,1)$ into an explicit recovery envelope under stated actuator, slack, and dwell assumptions. We validate the controller in Drake multibody simulation with five vehicles, a 10 kg payload, Kelvin-Voigt cables, Dryden wind, and single- and dual-severance schedules: the closed loop attains 0.312-0.328 m RMSE, 76.1-95.2 mm peak sag, and recovery within one payload-pendulum period. Disabling the identity inflates cruise error by 34-39% and peak sag by 3.6x-4.0x, identifying local tension feed-forward as the dominant passive recovery mechanism in the tested decentralized cascade.

Comments: Submitted for review at IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology For the paper and simulation code see: this https URL

Subjects:

Robotics (cs.RO); Optimization and Control (math.OC)

Cite as: arXiv:2605.05339 [cs.RO]

(or arXiv:2605.05339v1 [cs.RO] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.05339

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arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

Submission history

From: Hadi Hajieghrary [view email] [v1] Wed, 6 May 2026 18:10:42 UTC (925 KB)

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Key points

  • Proposes a passive fault-tolerant control using tension-to-thrust feed-forward, eliminating need for fault diagnosis.
  • Provides a conditional hybrid practical input-to-state stability certificate with explicit recovery envelope.
  • Simulation with five UAVs and 10 kg payload shows recovery within one payload pendulum period with low error.
  • Disabling tension feed-forward increases cruise error by 34-39% and peak sag by 3.6-4.0x.

Highlights and analysis are generated automatically and may contain errors. Check the original source.