Adaptive Neural Observer-Based Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Controller Design for a Class of Nonlinear Systems

Abstract

Solving the problem of control, stability, and maneuvering of an Air-Cushion Vehicle (ACV), as a nonlinear system, is a key challenge in amphibious vehicles. Nonlinearity, external disturbances, internal uncertainties, and unmodeled dynamics are the main difficulties that an ACV is faced with in the maneuver control. In this paper, a methodology is derived from designing an observer-based controller for an ACV. An adaptive Neural Networks (NN) observer with guaranteed stability is designed for the nonlinear dynamics of an ACV, which is controlled by the nonsingular terminal sliding mode controller. It is assumed that states of the system are unknown, while the system is observable. The main merits of the proposed method are the Lyapunov stability of the closed-loop system, the convergence of the tracking and observer errors to zero, and robustness against uncertainties. Simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.