Adaptive sliding mode control for quadrotor transport systems with uncertain parameters and disturbances

Summary Quadrotor transportation systems have been widely utilized in both commercial and civilian fields. However, challenges arise due to the variable payload mass and unpredictable wind disturbances during cargo transport, potentially leading to excessive payload swinging and system instability. To tackle this issue, this article proposes an adaptive sliding mode control approach that concurrently achieves trajectory tracking for the quadrotor and mitigates payload swinging. In the outer loop subsystem, the quadrotor dynamics model is partitioned into two components that is, actuated and underactuated components. Sliding surfaces are designed based on this divided system model, and two adaptive laws are designed to compensate for payload mass uncertainty and unknown wind disturbances. The system's asymptotic stability is assured through the application of the Lyapunov theorem. In the inner loop subsystem, a disturbance rejection controller is formulated. Comparative simulation results conclusively demonstrate the outstanding performance of the proposed method in terms of trajectory tracking and robustness.