Abstract: To cope with the problem of low measurement precision of sensors and wind disturbance to an unmanned aerial vehicle in action, this article proposes a composite path-following control method based on vector fields and the sliding model control method. Through the separation of a complex flight path, vector fields are constructed for the straight line and the curved line respectively. Based on the sensor information, the current state and trajectory information of the small unmanned aerial vehicle can be obtained. With the sliding model control method, the system adjusts motors to realize precise path following under wind disturbance. Tests confirm that the proposed method can improve the path following performance and dynamic response for the small unmanned aerial vehicle under wind disturbance.

Key words: small unmanned aerial vehicle, wind disturbance, path following, vector field, sliding model control