Incremental backstepping for the stratospheric airship control driven by tracking differentiator

Abstract

This article proposes a control methodology, referred to as the Nonlinear Disturbance Observer-based Incremental Backstepping (NIBS) approach, for the stratospheric airship with model uncertainty and time delay. In particular, a novel tracking differentiator based on the inverse hyperbolic sine function is designed and utilized in a nonlinear disturbance observer to estimate disturbance and sensor noise. The incremental backstepping control theory is further improved, and combined with the proposed nonlinear disturbance observer to overcome the issues of “term explosion” and signal transmission delay, ensuring the system’s robustness. Moreover, the Lyapunov theory is employed to investigate the stability of the NIBS approach. The simulation results validate that the NIBS control strategy can accurately regulate the speed and angular velocity of the stratospheric airship, while effectively mitigating the effects of sensor noise and time delay.