Nonsingular terminal sliding-mode control of nonlinear planar systems with global fixed-time stability guarantees

This paper proposes the use of a novel nonsingular Terminal Sliding surface for the finite-time robust stabilization of second order nonlinear plants with matched uncertainties. Mathematical characteristics of the proposed surface are such that a fixed bound naturally exists for the settling time of the state variable, once the surface has been reached. A simple redesign of the control input able to ensure the feature of fixed-time reaching of the sliding surface will be also presented, and fixed-time stability will be guaranteed by the proposed Terminal Sliding Mode Control design method. A careful simulation study has been performed using a benchmark system taken from the literature. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.