Fractional‐order fast terminal sliding mode trajectory tracking control of quadrotor UAV based on finite time disturbance observer

Abstract In this paper, a novel trajectory tracking control problem of the quadrotor UAV is addressed, which considers the system uncertainties and unknown external disturbances meanwhile. To ensure a rapid convergence rate of the states, fast terminal sliding mode control (FTSMC) algorithm is improved combining with a fractional order method. In addition, finite‐time observer is designed to handle disturbances and enhance the robustness of the system. The closed‐loop finite‐time stability of the quadrotor UAV system is established using Lyapunov theory in accordance with the novel control law. To evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed strategy, various simulations under different scenarios are conducted respectively. These simulation results clearly demonstrate the superiority of our control scheme, which we refer to as fractional‐order fast terminal sliding mode control (FOFTSMC).