Adaptive backstepping sliding mode tracking control for the stratospheric airship

Three-degree-of-freedom trajectory tracking of the stratospheric airship is investigated. With a simplified planar dynamic model, an adaptive backstepping sliding mode controller is designed to keep the airship to globally asymptotically track a desired trajectory. Lyapunov functions are used to ensure the tracking performance when model parametric uncertainty and external disturbances exist. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control strategy.