LAUSR

Summary This paper deals with the intermittent fault estimation problem for a class of nonlinear time-delay systems with measurement noise. The time delays are assumed to occur in state vector, nonlinear term as well as output vector, thus reflecting the time delays influence in reality more closely. The aim of the problem is to estimate the intermittent fault by using iterative learning scheme, with the property of H∞ index, hence attenuating the influence from measurement noise. Different from existing fault estimating schemes, the state error information and fault estimating information in the previous iteration are used in the current iteration to improve the estimating results. The stability and convergence of iterative learning observer and uniform boundedness of dynamic error system are achieved by using Lyapunov function and optimal function design. Simultaneously, an improved sufficient condition for the existence of such an estimator is established in terms of the linear matrix inequality by the Schur complements and Young relations. Furthermore, the results are both suited for the systems with time-varying delay and the systems with constant delay. Finally, two numerical examples are proposed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, and a comparability example is presented to demonstrate its superiority. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.