Third-Order Sliding Mode Control for Trajectory Tracking of Quadcopters Using Particle Swarm Optimization

This study focuses on designing a controller for trajectory tracking of quadcopters using advanced sliding-mode techniques. Specifically, an integral terminal sliding-mode control based on an adaptive barrier function with a super-twisting reaching law is employed to achieve precise trajectory track...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Muhammad Rizwan Chughtai, Iftikhar Ahmad, Abdullah Mughees, Muddesar Iqbal, Dhafer Almakhles, Mahmoud Abdelrahim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Drones
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/9/3/172
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Summary:This study focuses on designing a controller for trajectory tracking of quadcopters using advanced sliding-mode techniques. Specifically, an integral terminal sliding-mode control based on an adaptive barrier function with a super-twisting reaching law is employed to achieve precise trajectory tracking. The performance of the controller is enhanced by applying Particle Swarm Optimization to fine-tune the gain values. The nonlinear dynamics of the quadcopter are modeled using the Euler–Lagrange approach, followed by a Lyapunov stability analysis to verify the stability of the controller. The adaptive barrier function is used to prevent control signal saturation, while the third-order sliding-mode controller effectively reduces the chattering. Additionally, a saturation function is introduced to further mitigate the chattering effect. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through numerical simulations, and its performance is further validated through controller-in-the-loop implementation. The results show that the proposed method significantly improves trajectory-tracking accuracy.
ISSN:2504-446X