Adaptive sliding mode stabilization and positioning control for a multi-vectored thrust airship with input saturation considered

This article addresses a position and attitude stabilization control scheme for a class of multi-vectored airship with parameter uncertainty and input saturation considered. Airship parameters such as the inertia matrix and aerodynamic coefficients are hard to measure due to the uneven gas distribution and unforeseen shape changing. The propellers airships use often have saturation issues. These phenomena are unavoidable. To meet these challenges, we propose two adaptive sliding mode control methods. Both achieve airship position and attitude stabilization without the prior knowledge of the inertia matrix or aerodynamic coefficients. The second algorithm also takes input saturation into consideration. Simulations illustrate the effectiveness of our scheme. Compared with former works, our method achieves position, attitude, velocity and angular velocity stabilization with inertia matrix uncertainty, aerodynamic coefficient uncertainty, and input saturation.