Super-Twisting Sliding Mode Control for the Trajectory Tracking of Underactuated USVs with Disturbances

Abstract

For an underactuated unmanned surface vehicle (USV), time-varying external disturbances affect the accuracy of trajectory tracking. To ensure trajectory tracking accuracy, in this paper the reduced-order extended state observer (ESO) and the super-twisting second-order sliding mode controller are adopted. The ESO is designed to address the unknown time-varying sideslip angle in the guidance law. Additionally, the super-twisting technology contributes to a reduced chattering effect of the sliding mode. The Lyapunov method is used to analyze the stability of the tracking system and prove that the proposed controllers can ensure the convergence of the tracking errors in finite time. The simulation experiments of the proposed super-twisting sliding mode control (STSMC) and adaptive sliding mode control (ASMC) methods are compared. The results show that the STSMC method enables the USV to complete the task of the reference trajectory tracking. The chattering of the STSMC is also significantly reduced compared to that of the ASMC.