Robust constrained trajectory tracking control for a PVTOL aircraft subject to external disturbances

This paper addresses the trajectory tracking control problem of a planar vertical take-off and landing (PVTOL) aircraft in the presence of position constraints and external disturbances. A novel robust constrained control approach is proposed by incorporating the barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) and nonlinear damping items within the framework of dynamic surface control design. The dynamic surface control is used to avoid the ‘explosion of terms’ problem of the traditional backstepping control. The tan-type BLF is utilised to preserve the position tracking errors always within the predefined position constraints. The nonlinear damping items are applied to handle the effect of external disturbances. The uniform ultimate boundedness of the resulting closed-loop system is rigorously proved through the Lyapunov’s direct method. A distinct feature of the proposed control approach is that it is a general methodology for the trajectory tracking control of PVTOL aircraft with or without position constraints. Both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations illustrate the effectiveness and benefits of the proposed control approach.