A Nonlinear Discrete-Time Sliding Mode Controller for Autonomous Navigation of an Aerial Vehicle Using Hector SLAM

Abstract

In this paper, a discrete-time sliding mode controller (DTSMC) is designed for full position and attitude control of a quadrotor UAV. The aim of this study is to design a controller suitable for practical implementation on an autonomous quadrotor for remote sensing in the hostile nuclear environments. A nested DTSMC is developed and compared against two continuous-time sliding mode control methods; classical SMC as well as a chattering-free SMC (CFSMC) studied in the previous works. The performance of the controllers are evaluated in combination with the Hector SLAM algorithm for localisation in GPS denied environments. For this purpose, MATLAB in combination with the Robotic Operating System (ROS) are used to develop the controllers. Control signals are sent from MATLAB to the Gazebo simulation environment in ROS, which simulates the quadrotor and runs the Hector SLAM algorithm.