Anti-disturbance backstepping control for air-breathing hypersonic vehicles based on extended state observer

In this paper, we propose an anti-disturbance backstepping control approach with extended state observer (ESO) for tracking control of air-breathing hypersonic vehicles. Considering the large uncertainties, the external disturbances, and especially the lack of aerodynamic knowledge, several ESOs are introduced in the backstepping controller. With the total disturbance estimation ability of ESOs, almost no aerodynamic knowledge is needed for the controller design. Meanwhile, ESOs are also used to estimate the derivatives of the virtual control signals. The problem of “explosion of terms” is avoided. A key strategy of the controller is that each step of backstepping is activated successively. Consequently, the closed-loop system has time-scale structure. Rigorous stability proof can be obtained. At last, compared simulation results verify the superior tracking performance of the proposed controller.