Trajectory tracking for an autonomous airship using fuzzy adaptive sliding mode control

We present a novel control approach for trajectory tracking of an autonomous airship. First, the dynamics model and the trajectory control problem of an airship are formulated. Second, the sliding mode control law is designed to track a time-varying reference trajectory. To achieve better control performance, fuzzy adaptive sliding mode control is proposed in which the control gains are tuned according to fuzzy rules, and an adaptation law is used to guarantee that the control gains can compensate for model uncertainties of the airship. The stability of the closed-loop control system is proven via the Lyapunov theorem. Finally, simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control scheme.