Robust Adaptive Nonsingular Fast Terminal Sliding Mode Control for Tracking Aggressive Quadrotor Trajectories

In this study, we present a new approach towards applying adaptive nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control for quadrotor trajectory tracking control, focused on maximizing performance and enabling high-speed trajectories with large attitude angles. We base our work on a highly accurate quadrotor dynamical model, considering first-order drag effects and without utilizing any limiting assumptions. Using Lyapunov Stability analysis, we design a control system made up of three cascaded controllers and derive parameter adaptation laws, such that no prior information about drag coefficients or accurate knowledge of inertial parameters is required. We demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our approach, against both parametric uncertainties and wind-induced external disturbances, through numerical simulations against other advanced control techniques using sliding mode control, namely adaptive recursive sliding mode control and nonlinear extended state observer and recur-sive sliding mode control, and highlight the superiority of our approach for tracking of highly aggressive trajectories.