Tracking differentiator and extended state observer-based nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode attitude control for a quadrotor

The attitude control problem is addressed for a quadrotor system subject to the modeling uncertainties and unknown disturbances. A novel attitude control scheme is proposed based on nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) technique. First, the tracking differentiator (TD) is designed to obtain the smooth tracking signal and its derivative. Then, the extended state observer (ESO) is constructed to provide the estimate of the modeling uncertainties and unknown disturbances. With the designed TD and ESO, a novel NFTSM controller is developed such that tracking error converges to zero in finite time. The transient-state and the steady-state performances are both achieved with the new controller. Finally, the simulation and real experiment results verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control method.