Fixed-time attitude control of flying-wing unmanned aerial vehicles based on plasma control surface

This paper investigates rudderless control in flying-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with a plasma Gurney flap. To solve this problem, we propose a dynamic surface fixed-time controller based on a finite-time extended state observer. The distribution of dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators and their application strategy for a small flying-wing UAV are derived. The aerodynamic data of the plasma control surface are calculated using the computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT, allowing a comprehensive analysis to be carried out. A fixed-time backstepping control method for the dynamic surface based on a finite-time extended state observer is proposed. The finite-time extended state observer is designed to suppress the influence of external disturbances and model uncertainties on the UAV's attitude, and the fixed-time filter effectively eliminates the explosion of complexity encountered in backstepping control strategies. A continuously differentiable strict Lyapunov stability function proves that the proposed controller guarantees the fixed-time stability of the system. Simulation results show that the proposed control method can realize small-angle attitude control of a UAV without using a mechanical control surface and has strong anti-disturbance and attitude tracking capabilities.