A Comparative Study of Sliding-Mode-Based Control Strategies of a Quad-Rotor UAV

In this paper, three sliding-mode-based control techniques for position and attitude tracking trajectory for a quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are evaluated regarding the tracking performance and the chattering in the motors’ speed. The evaluation is made through numerical simulations of a stationary flight and waypoint tracking with disturbances. The results show that Sliding Mode controllers are suitable for UAV applications, with high tracking performance, particularly sliding mode controllers with exponential reaching law. The modified super twisting algorithm can achieve the control objectives with a notable reduction in the chattering effect.