A Sliding Mode LCO Regulation Strategy for Dual-Parallel Underactuated UAV Systems Using Synthetic Jet Actuators

Abstract

A sliding mode control- (SMC-) based limit cycle oscillation (LCO) regulation method is presented, which achieves asymptotic LCO suppression for UAVs using synthetic jet actuators (SJAs). With a focus on applications involving small UAVs with limited onboard computational resources, the controller is designed with a simplistic structure, requiring no adaptive laws, function approximators, or complex calculations in the control loop. The control law is rigorously proven to achieve asymptotic regulation of both pitching and plunging displacements for a class of systems in a dual-parallel underactuated form, where a single scalar control signal simultaneously affects two states. Since dual-parallel underactuated systems cannot be expressed in a strict feedback or cascade form, standard backstepping-based control techniques cannot be applied. This difficulty is mitigated through careful algebraic manipulation in the regulation error system development, along with innovative design of the sliding surface. A detailed model of the UAV LCO dynamics is utilized, and a rigorous analysis is provided to prove asymptotic regulation of the pitching and plunging displacements. Numerical simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the control law.