City Research Online

Abstract

Trajectory tracking control is essential for fully autonomous quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (QUAVs), particularly during landing, because it directly influences mission success and flight safety. However, mismatched model uncertainties, parametric variations, and external disturbances compel QUAVs to perform aggressive maneuvers to maintain stability. A robust trajectory tracking control method is proposed in this study by employing a dual-loop architecture. The inner attitude loop is stabilized by a super-twisting sliding mode robust controller compensated by a nonlinear disturbance observer based on a disturbance reconstruction approach. The finite-time convergence and robustness of the proposed control method are theoretically established. The outer position loop employs a model predictive controller formulated as a convex structure and incorporates an e!cient sequential quadratic programming algorithm to reduce the computational complexity. Extensive simulations and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art controllers, particularly in tracking accuracy and robustness to uncertain disturbances.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2026 Springer. This is the accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer. Please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions for information on re-use.
Publisher Keywords:	trajectory tracking control, quadrotors, super-twisting sliding mode robust controller, disturbance observer
Subjects:	T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Departments:	School of Science & Technology School of Science & Technology > Department of Computer Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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