Applying Sliding Mode Control to a Quadrotor

The current paper discusses the application of Sliding Mode Control (SMC) to a quadcopter. The controller is designed based on the system's nonlinear model. An adaptive sliding mode controller is developed specifically for the quadcopter's attitude subsystem, aiming to mitigate the undesirable vibration phenomena typically associated with conventional sliding mode controllers while ensuring robust trajectory tracking for the quadcopter's attitude. The stability of the proposed controller was verified using the Lyapunov stability theorem. The quadcopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) model and the performance of the proposed controller were simulated and validated in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. The results demonstrate that the proposed controller effectively positions the quadcopter with minimal error, maintaining the UAVs flight along the prescribed trajectory. Additionally, it performs well in trajectory tracking under collision noise and vibration reduction conditions.