Multicopter online rotor fault diagnosis system

A method of diagnosing rotor fault in a multicopter, the method comprising:

• providing a multicopter in flight, the multicopter comprising:
• a body;
• a plurality of booms secured to the body, each of the plurality of booms has a proximal end secured to the body and extends radially outward to a distal end;
• and
• a plurality of rotors, each of which are secured to the distal end of a respective one of the plurality of booms;
• continuously measuring, via a plurality of local sensors, out-of-plane strain of the plurality of booms to continuously generate boom strain signals, each of the plurality of local sensors are secured to a respective one of the plurality of booms and positioned a distance from the body;
• receiving, at a controller in communication with the body and the plurality of local sensors, the continuously generated boom strain signals;
• and
• performing, via the controller, a pattern recognition algorithm to simultaneously detect and identify faults associated with the plurality of rotors.