Finite time integral sliding mode control of hypersonic vehicles

This study investigates the tracking control problem for the longitudinal model of an airbreathing hypersonic vehicle (AHV) with external disturbances. By introducing finite time integral sliding mode manifolds, a novel finite time control method is designed for the longitudinal model of an AHV. This control method makes the velocity and altitude track the reference signals in finite time. Meanwhile, considering the large chattering phenomenon caused by high switching gains, an improved sliding mode control method based on nonlinear disturbance observer is proposed to reduce chattering. Through disturbance estimation for feedforward compensation, the improved sliding mode controller may take a smaller value for the switching gain without sacrificing disturbance rejection performance. Simulation results are provided to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.