Vision-based Fast-terminal Sliding Mode Super Twisting Controller for Autonomous Landing of a Quadrotor on a Static Platform

Abstract

This paper proposes a vision-based sliding mode control technique for autonomous landing of a quadrotor over the static platform. The proposed vision algorithm estimates the quadrotor’s position relative to an ArUco marker placed on a static platform using an on-board monocular camera. The relative position is provided as an input to a Fast-terminal Sliding Mode Super Twisting Controller (FTSMSTC) which ensures finite time convergence of the relative position between the landing pad marker and the quadrotor. In addition, the proposed controller attenuates chattering phenomena and guarantees robustness towards bounded external disturbances and modelling uncertainties. The proposed vision-based control scheme is implemented using numerical simulations and validated in real-time on the DJI Matrice 100.