Discrete-time sliding mode control for a quadrotor UAV

This paper mainly addresses the position and attitude tracking control for a small quadrotor UAV via discrete-time sliding mode control (DSMC). Firstly, the linear extrapolation method is used to transform the continuous-time system into discrete-time system. Based on the discrete-time system, the discrete-time flight controllers are designed to perform position and attitude tracking control of the quadrotor UAV. In addition, new conditions are given ensuring the discrete-time system is asymptotically stable. Lastly, based on the kinematic and dynamic model of the quadrotor UAV, extensive simulations are performed to illustrate that the proposed control method has a good performance in terms of stabilization and tracking control.