Finite-time adaptive terminal sliding mode controller design for reusable launch vehicle in reentry phase

This paper proposed a novel finite-time adaptive terminal sliding mode controller for 6-DOF model of reentry RLV with external disturbance and parameters uncertainty. First, according to the multiple time scale features, the dynamics of attitude motion are divided into attitude angle subsystem and attitude angular rate subsystem. By estimating the upper bound of disturbance and uncertainty with an adaptive law, the controller for each subsystem can be designed. Also, the states of each subsystem can reach sliding surface in finite time is proved. The validity of this controller is illustrated by simulation.