Trajectory tracking sliding mode control for vertical take-off and landing aircraft based on double loop and global Lipschitz stability

Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft excel in their ability to maneuver in limited spaces, making them ideal for a variety of uses including urban air mobility, emergency response, and disaster surveillance. Their agility and quick deployment features are especially valuable for executing complex missions in challenging environments. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a dual-loop sliding mode control (SMC) strategy optimized for VTOL models. However, tracking errors in the inner loop can impact the performance of the outer loop, complicating the assessment of the inner loop’s convergence speed to meet the outer loop’s criteria, and thus hindering the achievement of absolute stability in both control loops. To tackle this issue, the paper leverages the global asymptotic stability theorem for dynamic systems and develops a closed-loop system with global Lipschitz continuity, guaranteeing robust stability across both loops. This method not only bolsters the system’s dependability but also enhances its flexibility to operate effectively under complex dynamic conditions, thereby increasing the overall resilience and performance of the VTOL control systems. The implementation of the sliding mode control strategy in VTOL models significantly enhances operational stability and reduces tracking errors in complex environments. Numerical simulations demonstrate that our approach reliably improves both performance and adaptability of the system under varying dynamic conditions.