Robust backstepping control for maneuver aircraft based on event-triggered mechanism and nonlinear disturbance observer

Purpose This study aims to achieve the post-stall pitching maneuver (PSPM) and decrease the deflection frequency of aircraft actuators controlled by the robust backstepping method based on event-triggered mechanism (ETM), nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) and dynamic surface control (DSC) techniques. Design/methodology/approach To estimate unsteady aerodynamic disturbances (UADs) to suppress their adverse effects, the NDO is designed. To avoid taking the derivative of the virtual control law directly and eliminate the coupling term of the system states and dynamic surface errors in the stability analysis, an improved DSC is developed. Combined with the NDO and DSC techniques, a robust backstepping method is proposed to achieve the PSPM. Furthermore, to decrease the deflection frequency of the aircraft actuators, a state-dependent ETM is introduced. Findings An ETM-and-NDO-based backstepping method with an improved DSC technique is developed to achieve the PSPM and decrease the deflection frequency of aircraft actuators. And simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed paper. Originality/value Few studies have been conducted on the control of the PSPM in which the lateral and longitudinal attitude dynamics are coupled with each other considering the UADs. Moreover, the mechanism that can decrease the deflection frequency of aircraft actuators is rarely developed in existing research. This study proposes an ETM-and-NDO-based backstepping scheme to address these problems with satisfactory performance of the PSPM.