Disturbance Observer Based Sliding Mode Controller Design for Heave Motion of Surface Effect Ships

In order to damp the heave motion of surface effect ships(SESs),a sliding mode controller with a disturbance observer was designed.At first,a disturbance observer was proposed to estimate the unknown time-varying disturbance acting on SESs due to waves.Then,based on the disturbance,a slide mode controller was designed to minimize the magnitude of SES's heave motion position.It was theoretically proved that the designed sliding mode controller with the disturbance observer could guarantee the stability of the closed-loop heave motion control system of SESs.Simulations on a Norwegian Navy's SES were carried out and the simulation results illustrated the effectiveness of the proposed controller with the disturbance observer.