Transition Mode Control for Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Drones Based on Improved Self-Disturbance Suppression

To address the tilt transition control issue in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) drones, this paper proposes a cooperative control strategy combining an adaptive tilt scheme with an improved adaptive disturbance rejection control (ADRC). First, based on the eVTOL drone’s dynamic characteristics, a motion model suitable for control design is established. Second, a real-time state-based adaptive tilt strategy is designed by achieving decoupled mapping between motor speed and tilt angle through a dynamic control allocation matrix. Furthermore, a novel Sanf function is proposed for the extended state observer (ESO) within the ADRC framework. The global convergence of the improved ESO is demonstrated, enhancing disturbance estimation accuracy and stability. Finally, simulation experiments validate the effectiveness of the adaptive tilt scheme based on dynamic control allocation, along with the robustness and reliability of the altitude, velocity, and attitude loops.