Second order sliding mode twisting controller tuning based on two-level optimization process

State-of-the-art finite time convergence conditions for the sliding mode controllers rely on bounds on perturbation terms. These bounds are often over-approximated, leading to conservative designs, i.e., high gains that amplify undesired behaviors such as chattering. This paper proposes to evaluate precisely the bounds on the perturbation terms to avoid conservative designs by using branch-and-bound algorithms dedicated to nonlinear programming. This leads to non-linear, a priori non-convex, non-differentiable constraints on the controller’s gains, which is shown to be solvable using a modern black-box optimization algorithm. We propose a new methodology employing branch-and-bound and blackbox solvers to generate gains as small as possible ensuring finite time convergence for the twisting algorithm. It is investigated using both a classical and a recently proposed sufficient conditions for finite time convergence. The applicability of the approach is illustrated over a numerical example.