{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T02:45:55Z","timestamp":1782355555357,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,31]],"date-time":"2021-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1617148800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recently, formation flying of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) found numerous applications in various areas such as surveillance, industrial automation and disaster management. The accuracy and reliability for performing group tasks by multiple UAVs is highly dependent on the applied control strategy. The formation and trajectories of multiple UAVs are governed by two separate controllers, namely formation and trajectory tracking controllers respectively. In presence of environmental effects, disturbances due to wind and parametric uncertainties, the controller design process is a challenging task. This article proposes a robust adaptive formation and trajectory tacking control of multiple quad-rotor UAVs using super twisting sliding mode control method. In the proposed design, Lyapunov function-based adaptive disturbance estimators are used to compensate for the effects of external disturbances and parametric uncertainties. The stability of the proposed controllers is guaranteed using Lyapunov theorems. Two variants of the control schemes, namely fixed gain super twisting SMC (STSMC) and adaptive super twisting SMC (ASTSMC) are tested using numerical simulations performed in MATLAB\/Simulink. From the results presented, it is verified that in presence of disturbances, the proposed ASTSMC controller exhibits enhanced robustness as compared to the fixed gain STSMC.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21072401","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,31]],"date-time":"2021-03-31T00:13:10Z","timestamp":1617149590000},"page":"2401","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":30,"title":["Adaptive Robust Trajectory Tracking Control of Multiple Quad-Rotor UAVs with Parametric Uncertainties and Disturbances"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6852-5458","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yasir","family":"Mehmood","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jawad","family":"Aslam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7208-6374","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nasim","family":"Ullah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering Taif University, Al-Hawiyah, Taif P.O. Box 888, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1321-1176","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Md. Shahariar","family":"Chowdhury","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai 90112, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9178-8416","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kuaanan","family":"Techato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai 90112, Thailand"},{"name":"Environmental Assessment and Technology for Hazardous Waste Management Research Center, Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai 90112, Thailand"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ali Nasser","family":"Alzaed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Architecture Engineering, College of Engineering Taif University, Al-Hawiyah, Taif P.O. Box 888, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48572","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2909530","article-title":"Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): A survey on civil applications and key research challenges","volume":"7","author":"Shakhatreh","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Access."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2017, November 24). Research and Markets. The Global UAV Payload Market 2017\u20132027. Available online: https:\/\/www.prnewswire.co.uk\/news-releases\/global-uav-payload-market-research-report-2017---;projections-to-2027-659706103.html."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1177\/0142331215608427","article-title":"Feedback control strategies for quadrotor-type aerial robots: A survey","volume":"38","author":"Efe","year":"2016","journal-title":"Trans. Inst. Meas. 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