Robust Flight Control of a Tri-Rotor UAV based on Modified Super-Twisting Algorithm

In this paper, a nonlinear controller for finite-time high-accuracy position and attitude tracking trajectory has been proposed for a tri-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle affected by disturbances. The proposed method is the super-twisting control algorithm supported by two closed-loop feedback regulation based on a proportional-integral-derivative switching surface. This algorithm is one of the most effective algorithms of second order sliding mode due to its robustness, high precision, finite-time convergence when the trajectories of the controlled system are far from the switching surface. The proposed controller also offers a chattering reduction or elimination, which is the main drawback of sliding mode controllers. Stability conditions are presented based on Lyapunov theory. Numerical simulations are performed on the considered tri-rotor to prove the efficiency of the proposed nonlinear method.