Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The past two decades have seen a rapid increase in the use of piezoelectric structures in high-precision applications. However, the inherent nonlinearities of piezoelectric materials hinder the scope of the application and present an interesting control challenge. This issue gets more challenging when multiple piezoelectric actuators are involved in a system. To inherit the advantages offered by the piezoelectric actuators, it is important that the nonlinearities of piezoelectric actuatorssuch as hysteresis, creep, dynamics effects and drfits are minimized or even eliminated using certain modelling and control approaches. This Discovery project aims to make fundamental contributions to the key technologies of dynamics modeling and cooperative controller design of multiple piezoelectric actuators for high-precision applications. It is a natural sequel to the applicant's previous Discovery research. This research will lead to the successful development of high-fidelity dynamics models capable of capturing most of the nonlinearities of piezoelectric actuators. The high-fidelity models will allow the successful inverse compensation of nonlinearities and the use of simple controllers to achieve satisfactory control performance. This research will also lead to the development of effective cooperative controllers for multiple piezoelectric actuators. This will enable the high-precision applications using multiple piezoelectric actuators, for example Fabry-Perot spectrometer and fast steering mirrors. Another topic that will be investigated through this project is the integrated mechanical and control system design approach, which can lead to a better piezo-driven system. This research will also create a unique vibrant multidisciplinary learning and training environment for highly qualified personnel (HQP) and will support the HQP training in many ways. All HQP involved in this research will be trained in both theoretical and hands-on aspects. The HQP equipped with such unique research abilities are sought after by Canadian research community and industry.