Yue Qu

It is well-known that the successful implementation of current sliding-mode guidance laws relies on two key points: one is the prior knowledge of the upper bound of the target’s maneuver, and the other is the accurate measurement of motion information. The truth maneuver is usually difficult to acquire and can only be roughly estimated. Measurements are often affected by noise and physical limitations of the onboard sensor. This paper presents an improved second-order sliding-mode guidance law that can handle these two problems simultaneously while addressing the chattering phenomenon, which inherently exists in the sliding mode-based controller. We achieve this by using the estimation from an extended state observer (ESO) and tracking differentiator (TD). In light of the employed ESO, which is utilized to give an estimation of the external disturbance, prior knowledge of the target’s maneuver is not required. Most interestingly, we show that the motion information can be estimated efficiently from the ESO in real time. A TD filter can be further embedded to remove unwanted noise from the detected signal. A series of simulations has been conducted, clearly demonstrating that the estimation accuracy of the ESO is sufficient for the guidance law to implement accurate interception. The TD filter not only removes noise but also avoids the phase-loss problems associated with conventional filters. Moreover, the chattering phenomenon is completely eliminated in the control channel.

This work provides a generalization of the three-dimensional velocity obstacle (VO) collision avoidance strategy for nonlinear second-order underactuated systems in three-dimensional dynamic uncertain environments. A hierarchical architecture is exploited to deal with conflicting multiple subtasks, which are defined as several rotations and are parameterized by quaternions. An improved VO method considering the kinodynamic constraints of a class of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is proposed to implement the motion planning. The position error and velocity error can be mapped onto one desired axis so that, only relying on an engine, UAVs can achieve the goal of point tracking without collision. Additionally, the performance of the closed-loop system is demonstrated through a series of simulations performed in a three-dimensional manner.