Robust Path Tracking Control Design for Unmanned Agricultural Vehicles Using Adaptive Second-Order Sliding Mode

This paper focuses on the path tracking control for unmanned agricultural vehicles. To achieve high tracking accuracy and address the challenges of underactuation, we first design a second-order sliding mode controller. Then, to enable automatic gain adjustment, we develop an adaptive algorithm. Finally, we integrate these two components and conduct a rigorous stability analysis, which proves their finite-time stability. Simulation results on the CarSim platform demonstrate that our proposed approach significantly outperforms first- order sliding mode controller (FOSM) and PD controller in terms of accuracy and robustness, thereby greatly enhancing the autonomous navigation performance.