Adaptive sliding mode trajectory tracking control of robotic airships with parametric uncertainty and wind disturbance

An adaptive sliding mode trajectory tracking controller is developed for fully-actuated robotic airships with parametric uncertainties and unknown wind disturbances. Based on the trajectory tracking model of robotic airships, an adaptive sliding mode control strategy is proposed to ensure the asymptotic convergence of trajectory tracking errors and adaptive estimations. The crucial thinking involves an adaptive scheme for the controller gains to avoid the off-line tuning. Specially, the uncertain physical parameters and unknown wind disturbances are rejected by variable structure control, and boundary layer technique is employed to avoid the undesired control chattering phenomenon. Computer experiments are performed to demonstrate the performance and advantage of the proposed control method.