Finite time control for generic hypersonic vehicle

A nonlinear finite time sliding mode control (FTSMC) for generic hypersonic vehicle (GHV) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a control-oriented model of GHV is introduced for sake of simplicity. Secondly, Finite time controllers for velocity and altitude subsystems are designed independently by sliding mode theory to achieve tracking of velocity and altitude trajectories. Total disturbances including parametric perturbations, nonlinear dynamics and external disturbances in GHV model are estimated by utilizing finite time disturbance observer (FTDO) method. Chattering problem in sliding mode is settled by using a smooth approximate function. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to show that the proposed composite control scheme allows an excellent tracking performance.