Terminal sliding mode observers for uncertain linear systems with matched disturbance

In this paper, a terminal sliding mode observer (TSMO) for systems with general state‐space representation is proposed. The effects of uncertainties and matched disturbances are incorporated in the system dynamics. Compared to conventional sliding mode observers, which are capable of finite time convergence of the measured states’ (outputs) errors and asymptotic convergence of unmeasured states’ errors, the proposed TSMO guarantees finite time convergence of all states. Three appropriate Lyapunov functions are defined for proving robust and finite time convergence of all state estimation errors of the TSMO. In addition, to highlight the effectiveness of the methodology, the developed TSMO is applied to a well‐known realistic wind turbine model. Results confirm that the proposed TSMO estimates all the states in finite time with good accuracy.