To solve the problems of complex parameter tuning of traditional active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) and low adaptive ability of extended state observer, this paper designs a novel intelligent attitude controller based on active disturbance rejection control technology. The adaptive radial basis function neural network can improve the adaptability of the extended state observer, and the fuzzy control can adjust the parameters of the state error nonlinear control law online. The intelligent ADRC controller can eliminate the influence of internal and external disturbances on the unmanned helicopter, and reduce the difficulty of controller parameter tuning. Based on the intelligent ADRC controller, this paper designs an intelligent attitude control system for a small unmanned helicopter and completes the attitude control test. The corresponding test results demonstrate that the intelligent attitude controller has excellent anti-disturbances, robustness and tracking ability, and the control effect is better than that of the traditional ADRC controller.

The internal and external disturbance of the quad tiltrotor UAV stem from its rotor tilting motion and wind disturbance, which affect the control stability of the quad tiltrotor UAV in full flight. This paper proposes a control law design method based on the Adaptive Neural Network Extended State Observer-based Finite-Time Convergent Sliding Mode Control (ANNESO-FTCSMC). The adaptive neural network obtains the unknown total disturbance term that needs to be compensated in the finite-time convergent sliding mode control. An extended state observer is used to estimate the state variables of the controlled plant. The stability of the ANNESO-FTCSMC controller is proved with the Lyapunov stability theory. The unknown total disturbance as the expanded state variable of the state observer has the advantage of high adaptability, and the ANNESO-FTCSMC has a strong ability to compensate for the internal and external disturbances of the system. Compared with traditional sliding mode control, ANNESO-FTCSMC does not contain switching terms, so ANNESO-FTCSMC is chattering-free and converges faster. Based on this method, the flight control system of the quad tiltrotor UAV is designed and verified by hardware-in-loop simulation. The hardware-in-loop simulation results of attitude control in different flight modes and trajectory tracking control in full flight show that the ANNESO-FTCSMC controller is suitable for the flight control of quad tiltrotor UAV. Compared with the PID controller and ADRC controller, ANNESO-FTCSMC controller has more stable flight state of quad tiltrotor UAV under different flight modes and the same total disturbance. The transition process of ANNESO-FTCSMC controller from helicopter mode to airplane mode is also smoother and will not have large fluctuations. Therefore, ANNESO-FTCSMC controller has strong anti-disturbance and robustness.

In order to overcome the influence of internal and external disturbances caused by rotor tilt motion and gust disturbance on the full flight mode control of a tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a design method using fuzzy backstepping control based on an extended-state observer (FBS-ESO) is proposed. In this paper, fuzzy control is used to tune the parameters of the backstepping control law online, and the extended-state observer estimates the total disturbance of the controlled system to improve the controller’s robustness and anti-disturbance capability. This paper designs the attitude control system of a tilt-rotor UAV based on an FBS-ESO controller. The control performance of the FBS-ESO controller is tested in a hardware-in-loop simulation of the attitude control system. The simulation results show that changing the rotor tilt angle will destroy the stability of the traditional backstepping controller and active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC). In contrast, the FBS-ESO controller maintains good control performance. In addition, the performance of the FBS-ESO controller is not be significantly affected by adding external gust disturbance or changing the UAV parameters in the simulation. These disturbances significantly impact the traditional backstepping controller and ADRC. Therefore, the FBS-ESO controller has better anti-disturbance capabilities and robustness, as well as higher attitude control accuracy.