Adaptive Sliding Mode Control of Quadrotor System with Elastic Load Connection of Unknown Mass

During quadrotor load transport, the cable’s elasticity exacerbates load fluctuations, which may result in platform instability or a potential crash. This paper introduced a model of the connecting cable as a spring-damper system and established the dynamic model of the suspension system based on Newton’s law. Nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control (NFTSMC) was employed for attitude, position, and anti-swing controller design. Adaptive controllers were integrated into altitude control to address uncertainties related to load mass and cable length. The inclusion of an anti-swing controller into the position control loop effectively dampens load oscillations while ensuring accurate position tracking. Numerical simulations demonstrated that the proposed controller outperforms both the energy-based controller and the conventional linear sliding mode controller.