Backstepping control of hypersonic vehicles under input and output constraints with model uncertainties and disturbances

In this paper, considering the physical restriction of hypersonic vehicle systems in a practical flight environment, the altitude tracking problem is studied with input magnitude, input rate, output constraints, system parameter uncertainties and disturbances, which expands the traditional considerations of control methods in the hypersonic vehicle field. The hyperbolic tangent function is employed to address the system input constraints. Furthermore, the incorporation of barrier Lyapunov function serves to ensure that the system output is limited in the prescribed limitations. In particular, two extended state observers are integrated to eliminate errors from model uncertainties and disturbances. Based on the effective combination of these techniques and auxiliary variable designs, a novel backstepping controller is proposed to simultaneously handle problems of input and output constraints, model uncertainties and disturbances. The closed-loop system stability is demonstrated using the Lyapunov theory. Simulation results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed controller compared with the traditional backstepping controller.