Design of a Fuzzy Sliding Mode Controller for the Autonomous Path-Following of a Quadrotor

This paper presents the design and the performance analysis of nonlinear controllers for the positioning and path-following of a quadrotor. The design of the fuzzy sliding mode controller (FSMC) has been carried out based on sliding mode control (SMC) integrated into a fuzzy logic approach in order to eliminate the chattering. For the performance analysis, another nonlinear controller based on backstepping technique has been designed. A hierarchical two-loop architecture is proposed in order to solve the regulation and trajectory tracking control problem. The effectiveness of the nonlinear controllers is verified by simulation in a virtual environment, where the quadrotor must attain the desired position and follow the desired trajectory even in the presence of external disturbances. The performance analysis of the nonlinear controllers taken as a case study in this research is done using suitable performance indices such as ISE, IAE, among others. The comparative results show that the FSMC controller overcomes the backstepping controller in terms of performance and robustness.