In this paper, to develop a backstepping-based finite-time control (BFTC) method for the three-dimensional integrated guidance and control (IGC) system with target maneuvers and disturbances, a novel decoupled finite-time approximation auxiliary system (DFTAAS) is proposed together with a finite-time disturbance observer (FTDO). To accurately estimate the target maneuvers and the disturbances, the FTDO is designed. To approximate the virtual control law derivative and avoid the explosion of complexity problem, the DFTAAS is proposed. To solve the singularity issue and guarantee the boundedness of the virtual control law derivative, the piecewise functions are designed to derive the DFTAAS and the virtual control. Besides, to make the controller parameters independent of the norms associated to the control matrices, the control matrices are introduced into the DFTAAS so that the conservatism of the controller parameters is restrained. Furthermore, the finite-time stability properties of the system state stabilization and the disturbance estimation are integrated into the Lyapunov stability to guarantee the finite-time stability of the whole closed-loop IGC system. Finally, the hardware-in-the-loop experiment is implemented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Note to Practitioners—The aim of this paper is to design a BFTC scheme for the three-dimensional IGC system with target maneuvers and disturbances. In the practical IGC application, to solve the explosion of complexity problem, the finite-time dynamic surface control is designed to implement the BFTC. Nevertheless, the boundedness of the virtual control law derivative, which is essential for the system stability, can not be guaranteed due to the singularity. Besides, the parameter conservatism is inevitable due to the control matrices. In addition, the finite-time stability properties of the system state stabilization and the disturbance estimation, which interact and influence each other in the control process, is rarely integrated in practical. In view of the above actual issues, the piecewise function is designed to develop the DFTAAS and the guidance law to solve the explosion of complexity problem and ensure the boundedness of the virtual control law derivative. The control matrices are introduced into the DFTAAS to solve the problem of parameter conservatism. The finite-time stability properties of the system state stabilization and the disturbance estimation are integrated into the Lyapunov stability, which is more in line with the practical needs to sufficiently consider the coupling of them.

This paper deals with the design and the software validation of an automatic control architecture for the control of the launch vehicles' flight path slope angle in the second flight phase (after launch) by using the backstepping control approach. Starting from the nonlinear dynamics associated to the motion of the launch vehicles, the backstepping control technique and the Lyapunov theory are combined in order to obtain the general control law and the rotation angle of the rocket's reaction nozzle. The novel control scheme is software implemented in Matlab, the global stability and the effectiveness of this control architecture being proved both theoretically and by numerical simulations for the motion in vertical plane of the launch vehicle.

To improve the safety and reliability of quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (QUAVs) with limited communication, system uncertainties, and unknown external disturbances in a highly uncertain and safety-critical environment, a distributed adaptive human-in-the-loop event-triggered (ET) formation controller is proposed. The nonautonomous leader is controlled by receiving control commands decided by the gesture recognition system, and the followers are controlled indirectly via the connected communication network. Thus, the safety and flexibility of the closed-loop system are improved. The designed controller is quantized and then sent to the actuator only at the ET instants to further reduce the network burden. The radial basis function neural network is used to approximate the system uncertainties. The unknown approximation error and the unknown external disturbance are viewed as a compound disturbance compensated by the high-order disturbance observer. In addition, the uniformly ultimately bounded stability of the closed-loop system is achieved through the Lyapunov method. Finally, comparative experiments are implemented on the QUAVs to demonstrate the validity of the presented control scheme.

This paper presents the design of a new adaptive control system for the motion in longitudinal plane of a blended wing and tailless unmanned aerial vehicle characterized by variable centre of mass during the last two stages (glide slope and flare) of a typical landing procedure. The two control techniques involved in the control design (backstepping and dynamic inversion) ensure the cancel of the landing path tracking errors as well as a safe and precise landing in the case of wind gust external disturbances. The stability of the new designed auto-landing controller, its robustness to wind gusts, as well as the convergence of the attitude angles and forward speed to their desired values are proved by a rigorous theoretical analysis and a campaign of numerical simulations.

The paper presents a new architecture for mini-satellites' attitude control using a cluster consisting of four control moment gyros, in pyramidal configuration, and feedback from the quaternion and angular velocity vectors. The designed control law modifies the cluster's equivalent gyroscopic moment, the equivalent kinetic moment and the angular velocities' vector, this leading to the modification of the quaternion vector and to the change of the satellite's attitude. Matlab environment is used for the architecture's software implementation and validation, this being achieved for a mini-satellite involved in a typical motion around its own axis.