Disturbance Observer-Based Chattering-Attenuated Terminal Sliding Mode Control for Nonlinear Systems Subject to Matched and Mismatched Disturbances

This work presents a new disturbance observer-based chattering-attenuated terminal sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear systems in the presence of both mismatched and matched disturbances. A nonlinear disturbance observer is typically employed to accurately estimate mismatched disturbances. In this study, a terminal sliding mode control was designed, based on the disturbance estimation results, to counter the effects of disturbances and ultimately stabilize the target system. The utilization of a chattering-attenuated full-order terminal sliding mode structure satisfactorily resolves both chattering and singularity problems in controller design. It was shown by theoretical analyses that both the disturbance estimation error and the system state converge to the equilibrium point in finite time. Two simulation studies, namely a numerical example and an application to an electro hydrostatic actuator system, were conducted to examine the characteristics and to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.