Discrete variable structure control of nonlinear ship autopilot system

The nonlinear ship autopilot controller design by using discrete variable structure control theory is researched in this paper.The sliding surface is determined by the state variable feedback li-nearization method and the variable structure control law is designed by the "reaching law approach".The simulation results show that the controller designed here can track a desired course fast and accurately.It also exhibits strong robustness peculiarity to system uncertainties.