Adaptive fractional order sliding mode control for a quadrotor with a varying load

Due to their high maneuverability, quadrotors are very suitable vehicles for displacement of loads. Even so, loads can cause overweight that acts as a disturbance in momentums of inertia of quadrotor. As a result, the performance of quadrotor in path tracking will be negatively affected. In this paper, a fractional order sliding mode controller based on back-stepping method is designed to attenuate wind disturbance and effects of variations in load and momentums of inertia. The amount of load is estimated by considering an adaptive correcting coefficient in mass parameter of quadrotor, to allow the quadrotor to track the ideal path in the presence of such disturbances. Then, by using numerical simulation, the robustness of the proposed controller is shown in face of the disturbances. (C) 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.