Robust Variable Structure Dynamic Sliding Mode Control of VTOL Aircraft

In this paper, a design of autopilot for a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft to track a predetermined desired flight path is examined. This system is a nonlinear non-minimum phase system. Since this aircraft faces to external distributions (e.g. wind) in flight, so designing of a controller with robust performance is critical to achievean optimal flight performance, despite presence of the external distributions. For this purpose, the dynamic sliding mode technique which is a robust method in the controller designing for nonlinear systems with uncertainties is used. By using the above method, the autopilot control law is designed in such a way that the aircraft tracksthe predetermined optimal paths (which are determined on type of aircraft missions). Simulations show effectiveness of the proposed control law

Keywords:

VTOL aircraft , dynamic sliding mode control , robust control