Disturbance rejection-based adaptive non-singular fast terminal sliding mode control for a quadrotor under severe turbulent wind

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a disturbance rejection-based control strategy for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle subject to model uncertainties and external disturbances described by turbulent wind gusts of severe intensity. First, an extended state observer is introduced to supply full-state and total disturbance estimations within a fixed time regardless of initial estimation errors. Then, an adaptive non-singular fast terminal sliding mode controller with a single-gain structure is proposed to reduce the tuning complexity and drive the pose of the rotorcraft while providing practical finite-time convergence, robustness to bounded external disturbances, non-overestimation of its control gain, and chattering attenuation. Furthermore, the stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed through homogeneity and Lyapunov theory. Simulation results obtained through the ROS/Gazebo framework demonstrate graphically and quantitatively that the proposed observer-based controller reduces the influence of perturbations and requires less torque effort than existing methods in the presence of sensor noise.