Robust Visual Tracking Control Based on Adaptive Sliding Mode Strategy: Quadrotor UAV - Catamaran USV Heterogeneous System

This paper presents a robust visual control for the tracking of a catamaran USV from a quadrotor UAV via image-based visual servoing. A virtual camera approach is used for the extraction of the image features from the target, allowing the design of the rotorcraft position controller based on a class of adaptive sliding mode strategy, providing robustness against bounded external disturbances and uncertainties. The speed and heading control for the vessel is also designed by the same adaptive algorithm, which is in close-loop with a line-of-sight-based guidance law. Simulation results show the feasibility and performance of the proposed visual tracking control in a cooperation UAV-USV scheme in the presence of disturbances.