Quadrotor Trajectory Tracking Via SMC-Embedded Wild Horse Optimization

Abstract

This study provides an integrated control strategy with proportional derivative (PD) and sliding mode control (SMC) for a quadrotor. For inner loop control, the SMC, a robust nonlinear control method, is used to increase the system's resistance to uncertainty and shocks. By using high-speed switching in variable structure control, it reduces tracking mistakes. In the meantime, the PD control concentrates on tracking a helical path while controlling the outer loop for trajectory tracking. The PD and SMC parameters (k1, k2, and k3) could not be manually adjusted to produce acceptable results at first. As a result, this work presents an improvement by optimizing these control parameters using the Wild Horse Optimization (WHO) algorithm, a modern and cutting-edge optimization technique. This improvement shows good results in improving the quadrotor's tracking precision and stability, and it also greatly increases system performance. All simulations were performed in MATLAB, which facilitated detailed analysis and validation of the proposed control strategy.