Orientation control of hovercraft systems via an SMFLC and image-guided techniques

This paper is concerned with the control of a hovercraft vessel using a sliding mode fuzzy logic control and image-guided techniques. Firstly, we introduce the R/C hovercraft type vessel dynamics. Secondly, the sliding mode fuzzy logic control (SMFLC) is proposed in this paper. A significant feature is that the transient response during the reaching phase has been remarkably improved by the proposed control. Finally, an image-guided technique is presented. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we choose the R/C hovercraft vessel as the experimental system. Simulation results showed good responses via the proposed techniques.